Be a Panda Keeper for a Day! Dujiangyan Volunteer Experience

The whole experience was great. I would highly suggest it for any family. We were 2 families, 9 in total, 4 of which were kids. Lily reached out to me when we booked the trip, to get the info she needed. And she reached out again the day before our excursion. Amber was our guide. She met us at our hotel at 7am. And was knowledgeable and chatty (which I like). This excursion is tied for the #1 thing we did in China, according to my kids. Loved the company.

We went with our family and friends and had an amazing time. We were able to sit just a few feet from a panda while he ate, which was really special and memorable. We enjoyed learning about how they care for the pandas and what they eat. It was a wonderful experience and completely worth it!

Able to be close to a panda. Learn so much about pandas. Very enjoyable and educational. Lots of different pandas to see.

Everybody from WestChinaGo Travel Service was amazing! I contacted them via WhatsApp with some questions, and they ensured I had all the information before booking. On the day of the activity, my guide was incredibly accommodating, kind, and attentive. I felt very well taken care of. Before booking, please note that you won't be allowed to touch or feed the pandas. I find this rule to be very reasonable and fair as I wouldn't want to stress the animals.  The only thing that I didn't really like is that the experience involved a bit less actual work than I expected (and wanted) based on some reviews I had read. This isn't a reflection on WestChinaGo as the activities are organized by the research base. Overall, I'm incredibly glad I did this and would do it again! A huge thank you to the girls from WestChinaGo!

The tour has been wonderful from start to end. Lily has been very helpful and friendly all the way through the whole assisting process and sent us a fabulous guide, Fifi. Fifi has been very friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. Her English was very good. She gave us a lot of insights on pandas and managed to take many pictures of us throughout our volunteering session at the panda base.

We went as a family.of 5 which included out autistic teenage son. The staff were incredibly supportive and kind and you get to.learn.about panda life, diet and behaviours. We had to break bamboo, clean the areas and make panda food for the elderly panda. We were not allowed to touch any pandas . The highlight was panda feeding and it was amazing to be so close to them ( no photos allowed though). Our guide Bai was fantastic throughout. Be prepared to work a bit and lunch with the staff was provided. The alternative is to just get the park entrance tickets in..and you can see many pandas in their enclosures.

We booked Dujiangyan panda base 1 day volunteer program and Chengdu panda base+Leshan Buddha with Westgochina in Mar 2024. We are very happy to see pandas Lele and Hua Hua. Our tour guide is FiFi. She’s very knowledgeable and friendly. She told us a lot of Chinese culture and history. We had a lot of fun during the trips. Lily is also very professional and helpful with our enquires. We will recommend Westgochina for your China trips. Pamela from Singapore

This was the best day of my life!! If I could rate this higher I would. My guide was incredibly knowledgeable about all of the pandas as well as the showing a care for them as well, and an amazing photographer as well!! She is amazing and even gave suggestions on what to see in the city as well!! Absolutely fantastic would highly recommend that everyone wanting to see the pandas do this

This is an odd one to review, because there are two aspects: the Panda Volunteering at Dujiangyuan, and West China Go who helped arrange it. I’ll start with the latter and say this: if you are not Chinese and you’ve decided on the Dujiangyuan panda day, you should absolutely book through West China Go. Lily, who was my contact, was helpful, efficient, easy to correspond with, and I felt like she has a passion for what she’s doing. Most importantly for me, she dealt with the required medical form via email, saving a lot of money, time and hassle of doing this privately in our home country. The West China Go package also included transportation and entrance fees to the panda base, so it was fully inclusive of pretty much everything you need for the day. Regarding the panda volunteering, you really need to be aware of what you’re getting. If you’re just browsing tours and you have a lot of money to spend to get close to pandas, this isn’t for you. Don’t get me wrong: it *will* cost a lot and you *will* get closer to pandas than your average tourist, including a chance to feed them a few sticks of carrot, but that’s not what the volunteering day is about. You will also spend time smashing bamboo against the ground, making ‘cake’ for the pandas, eating unfamiliar Chinese food in the staff canteen, and sweeping up panda poo. Is it an authentic ‘day-in-the-life’ of a panda keeper? No, it’s way easier than that. But it’s a bit of fun and something different. Personally, I had a great day. Yes, it was the most expensive thing we did in a two-week tour of China. Yes, it was a long car journey from Chengdu. Yes, the panda feeding time was short. Yes, there is nearly two hours of free time during the day (we used this to see other pandas, plus red pandas and black bears also at the centre). But if seeing pandas is on your “must do” list in China/Chengdu, and you want to devote more to the experience than just going to a zoo, then I highly recommend this as a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Just be aware of what’s offered and you won’t be disappointed.

This has been probably one of the best experiences of our lives! This Panda volunteer program is well organised and gives you the chance to learn a lot, to give your contribute to a great project and to spend an entire day among pandas. Westchinago tour, then, is top! Lily is super careful and helped us to choose what best fitted with our needs. We also booked with them a 2 day tour to Emei mountain and Leshan Buddha...OUTSTANDING! We've got no words to say thank you to Westchinago! A special thank to our super guide, Fifi: a young woman whose kindness and intelligence has made our tours simply perfect! You'll be always in our hearts!