Into the home town of Giant Panda ---Wolong

Into the home town of Giant Panda ---Wolong



Wolong National Natural Reserve (Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries) is a protected area of 200,000 hectares (i.e. 494,200 acres) located in Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province, 134 kilometers away from the capital city Chengdu. Established in 1963, Wolong National Natural Reserve is the earliest, largest and best-known panda reserve in China. Its main targets for protection are forest ecosystem and precious animals like giant pandas. In June 1980, the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda was founded at Wolong with the efforts of both World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Chinese government .It was placed on UNESCO Man and Biosphere Reserve Network in the same year.

Three reasons to visit Wolong
 
1. The homeland of giant panda 



There are over 4,000 different species recorded in Wolong National Nature Reserve. The Panda is no doubt the most famous species. The reserve is also a home to many other endangered species including: red panda, golden snub-nosed monkey, Thorold's deer, takin and precious plants like . Because the reserve comprises different altitudes, it includes tropical and temperate climate zones and harbors species typically for the , like clouded leopards and sambar deer as well as species from temperate regions, like snow leopards and Eurasian lynxes.

2. The center of panda research in the world


Wolong National Nature Reserve is the most famous one among the 13 giant panda reserve centers established by the Chinese government with the help of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Wolong National Nature Reserve is also the first one of its kind to set up a research center for giant pandas. Zoologists at home and abroad have made ecological observation of giant pandas including its number, distribution, breeding, and population structure. Many remarkable achievements have been made in the past years.

Wolong panada research center is working on panda releasing. Pandas will take a training program before official releasing. During the traning, researchers will wear panda costume in the whole process in order to let panda get used to the environment without human. 

3. Splendid alpine valley 

Wolong National Natural Reserve lies in the east slope of Qionglai Mountain, and the alpine valley where the Tibetan Plateau transits into Sichuan Basin. The Reserve slopes drastically from northwest to southeast. There are 101 mountains with an altitude of over 5,000 meters including Balang Mountain, Niutou Mountain and Qianliang Mountain. Drastically tectonic movement and erosion have formed a number of valleys in the shape of V and steams flowing smoothly. All of them constitute a scenic splendor attracting world attention. Balang mountian is also a perfect birding site. There are many kinds of endemic apline birds such as golden pheasant, blood Pheasant, white-browed Rosefinch.  Check out Classic birding tour in Western China and travel with some of the best bird guides in China.

You can discover the wonderland of giant panda with professional tour guide and wildlife experts in AbsolutePanda’s Wildlife Safari, Panda tour and Photo Trips in the Wolong nature reserve and other national parks in the panda habitat. Our panda expert Dr. Zhang Jindong in Wolong Nature Reserve will tell your more details about panda and the research about panda conservation and their habitat protection.