Visit a panda centre
The giant panda is the symbol of China. Once spread across the entire country, these bamboo eaters are now confined to the uninhabited forests of central China. If you’d like to see one, your best bet is to visit one of the breeding centres around Chengdu, where information and knowledge of the pandas are gathered and from where the creatures are eventually returned to the wild. The most famous centre is the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.
The slow tempo of the panda
The panda population is decreasing rapidly. One of the reasons for this is that reproduction is a real challenge for pandas. Female pandas are only fertile for a short period each year and male pandas have a weak libido. In successful cases, the pandas mate in the spring and the cub is born after a 4-5 month pregnancy. A newborn panda weighs just 100 grams – a fraction of their fully grown weight of more than 100 kilos. If you’re really lucky, you may come across a panda cub at a research centre. You might even be able to have your photo taken with one... For a fee.
Pandas dry each other’s tears
Perhaps it is the black spots around the eyes that make pandas so appealing. There is a Chinese legend that explains where the spots come from. There are various versions of the story. But usually it involves a girl who had befriended the pandas, at a time when the bears were still completely white, except for their black paws. One day, the girl died and the pandas cried and cried. They rubbed their eyes constantly with their paws; hence the black spots. They also hugged each other for comfort and that made their ears and shoulders black as well.
Related articles
Arts & Culture
Houston and Dallas may be bigger and more famous, but Austin is in fact the capital of Texas. It’s also the least Texan city in Texas. And the weirdest city in the country. This is something its residents take pride in, as evidenced by the Austin motto of Keep Austin Weird! Have a peek inside weird houses or admire a cathedral of junk in a city where there is even a museum devoted entirely to the weird and strange.
Nightlife
When it comes to music, you might be inclined to think New Orleans (jazz), Memphis (rock ‘n’ roll), Chicago (blues) or Nashville (country), but Austin is actually the music capital of the US. The city boasts over 250 music venues, more than any other American city. You can choose from countless live performances and a fantastic music festival every month, such as SXSW. Austin lives and breathes music.
*The displayed prices are for one adult. All amounts are in USD. Taxes and surcharges are included. No booking fee is applicable. Prices shown may vary depending on fare availability.
The weather forecast information is provided by World Weather Online. Air France-KLM is not responsible for the reliability of this data.