5 Days Bifengxia Panda Volunteer Program with Chengdu Tour

Jinsha Site Museum

Du Fu Thatched Cottage

After breakfast, your tour guide will firstly take you to learn the past of Chengdu 3,000 years ago in Jinsha Site Museum. Jinsha Site Museum is a museum built on ruins to protect, study and display Jinsha culture of Chinese Shang and Zhou Dynasty (1600 BC - 221BC) and ancient civilization. It is mainly composed of Relic Hall, Exhibition Hall, Cultural Relics Protection and Restoration Center, and garden district. Among them, Relic Hall was constructed on the site where large scale of ritual activities were held in the ancient time. It’s the most completely preserved sacrifice remains in China with the biggest number of relics. When you are touring in it, don’t miss the golden band with Sun and Magic Birds which is now the logo of Chengdu.

And then, we will visit Wenshu Temple built in Sui Dynasty. It’s the most frequented temple in Chengdu. The temple was constructed in the style of traditional western Sichuan buildings and conserves many precious cultural relics and ten thousands of Buddhist scriptures and literature. Every day, there are many people coming for worship of Buddhas and praying. It’s said that one of the Buddha statues in the temple is in charge of helping people realize their dreams. Pray to this Buddha sincerely, your dream will come true within three weeks.

After lunch, you can have a short break. Then, we will have a sightseeing in Du Fu Thatched Cottage. Du Fu Thatched Cottage is the former residence of Du Fu, the great Chinese poet in Tang Dynasty (712AD - 770 AD). The poet sage had lived here for almost 4 years during which over 240 poems were wrote. The cottage had been renovated and expanded throughout the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. With its simple and elegant buildings, it is the biggest, best preserved, best known, and most distinctive relic pertaining of Du Fu in China. You will learn about the life and poetry of Du Fu and enjoy the large contemplative park with streams and flowers here.

In the late afternoon, you will enjoy the beauty of the quaint buildings and streets in Jinli Ancient Street. Known as “the First Street in Shu Kingdom”, Jinli is one of the busiest streets in the history of Xishu, and now it is a commercial pedestrian street built with the architectural style of the traditional old town in western Sichuan Province in Qing Dynasty. Along the street are numerous stores selling special local products like Shu Embroidery, lacquer products, folk handicrafts, curios, or calligraphies and paintings of celebrities. Here you will experience colorful traditional folk cultures. When night approaches and lamps are lighten up, the street will be decorated with beautiful light, making it more fascinating. It’s a good time for you to take some great pictures.

Stay overnight in Chengdu

Bifeng Gorge Waterfalls

Bifeng Gorge Waterfalls

Today, you will be driven to Bifengxia in Ya’an for about 2 hours. Bifeng Gorge is also called “The Small Jiuzhaigou” for its great natural scenery. With ninety percent of its territory covered with forest, this ecological tourist recreational resort is a natural oxygen bar and a nice place to avoid summer heat. It consists of two valleys forming the letter “V”. Wandering around the flagstone path, you can visit numerous waterfalls and ponds like Huanglongxia, Tianxian Bridge, the natural miniascape, the waterfall with thousands of terraces, Bailong Pond and Qinglong Pond, etc. Every waterfall is distinctive in its shape. Some plunges with great momentum while others are delicate in natural shape, streaming out of the rock tunnels gently, forming a fresh water curtain in front of you. The cool and humid climate in the gorge will completely soothe your nerves and make you embrace the nature.

When you have finished your tour in the gorge, we will go to the Bifengxia Panda Base to register, get equipment, get to know how to do the daily work and make well preparation for the following volunteer work.

Stay overnight in Bifengxia

Bifengxia Panda Base

Bifengxia Panda Base

In this special day, you will get a rare chance to have an intimate contact with giant pandas in Bifengxia Panda Base as a volunteer.

In the morning, your tour guide will pick you up from your hotel to the Bifengxia Panda Base. Your guide will introduce you to the professional panda keepers who can speak simple English. Your guide will also be there all the time to help you to translate and take memorable photos with the adorable pandas.

During your work, you need to clean panda enclosures. Panda keepers need to supply fresh bamboos to these national treasures three times each day. The pandas usually eat only 30% of the bamboo, wasting 70% of it. You will need to sweep out the leftovers, replace it with fresh bamboo, and clean out the feces. Besides, you also need to feed pandas, offering them panda cakes, apples, and carrots four times a day. The panda keepers will show you how to feed a panda with your own hands at close proximity.

In the noontime, you will have lunch and take a rest in the base. You can watch a special documentary (40 minutes) about how the shy pandas mate, give birth, grow up, and are returned to the wild.

In the afternoon, you will continue your work to do more cleaning and feeding, and learn to make panda’s cakes. The bamboos you supplied in the morning will have become dry by the afternoon. You should remove and replace them with fresh bamboos and then feed the pandas with some more panda cakes and apples. Having fed the pandas with panda cakes, aren’t you curious as to how they are made? It is time to make some panda cakes with your own hands. The ingredients will be prepared in advance. Get creative about the shapes of the cakes.

At about 4:00pm, your volunteer work will end and you will receive a certificate for this unforgettable day. Say goodbye to the pandas you take care of. Your guide will escort you back to Chengdu.

Notice:
1. Volunteer activities charge for 700 RMB per day. You need to book it in advance and pay down payment for the tour.
2. The age limit for the volunteering program is 12 years and above.
3. Your latest health check report should be provided.
4. Please do not make noises or sudden movements that might startle the pandas.
5. It is advisable that you do not wear any strong smelling perfumes, deodorants, or creams as pandas are sensitive to smell.

Stay overnight in Chengdu

Today is free for you to have a rest in hotel or explore Chengdu at your leisure until we transfer you to the airport or train station for your next destination.