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Giant Panda and Rural Retreat Insight Tour

Far East Asia : China

Tour name: Giant Panda and Rural Retreat Insight Tour

This tour to Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces aims to give a privileged insight into two panda reserves, which up until now have had little tourism.

Duration: 14 Days Grading: Moderate Max Group Size: 12 Type: Small Group Escorted Travel Prices from: £3475

Tour Summary:

Other prices »

Tour name: Giant Panda and Rural Retreat Insight Tour

Prices from: £3475

Duration: 14 Days

Kind points from: 260

N&K Reference: NKT0002220

(Type this into the "Jump to" form at www.NatureAndKind.com to find this tour again)

Type: Small Group Escorted Travel

Grading: Moderate

Suitable for: Romantic Escapes, Family Holidays, Honeymoons, Seniors, Groups, Solo travellers

Experiences: Active & Adventure, Learning & Self-Discovery, Nature & Wildlife

Activities: Wildlife Conservation

Max Group Size: 12

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Tour Overview

The Giant Panda is one of the most recognised creatures on earth, yet it is also one of the most critically endangered with only 1600 surviving today in China, when once it ranged from Burma in the south to the outskirts of Beijing in the north. In the last few years, since the banning of logging in 1999, a host of measures are being undertaken to increase the country’s conservation efforts. One development is the establishment of basic ecotourism facilities in key areas that offer the opportunity to trek in unique panda habitat. Here too is the last remnants of rural China can be enjoyed.

The itinerary allows unique viewing and walking opportunities to track and view wild pandas in their natural habitat, as well as meeting with traditional rural communities, still practising their ancient agricultural methods, and meeting with the individuals fighting to ensure the survival of wilderness in China. The Reserves of Foping and Changqing were established in the late 1990s as two of eight contiguous reserves set up for Giant panda protection in the Qinling Mountains, south of Xian, and as such hold some of the best high altitude primary forest and flora to be seen in China. Around 220 species of birds and other endangered mammals including Clouded leopard, Takin, Goral and Tufted deer also inhabit the park.

Under the guidance of wildlife experts and researchers you will have a very good chance of seeing pandas in the winter time in these mountains, tracking them through thick bamboo forests and mountainous valleys with snow on the ground, as well as seeing other animals at this time. Furthermore explore traditional agricultural practices, enjoy local cuisine, visit ancient cultural sites, stay in traditional rural towns and experience a local homestead with an optional home stay. Offering a range of accommodation from a simple park research station to comfortable local hotels, this trip will give you an alternative view of China that few travellers witness in a rapidly changing country.

A contribution is also made to WWF China’s Xian office to help with their work in this region.

Please note that this tour is best enjoyed if you are reasonably fit, healthy and active, as trekking and tracking pandas in mountainous forests can be physically demanding - but well worth the effort.

Location

Continent or Region: Far East Asia

Country or State/County: China

Changqing Nature Reserve

Declared a park in 1995, this 300sq km area is famous as the original study area of China’s leading panda scientist and conservationist, Professor Pan and his assistant Dr Lu Zhi (who we invited to England in 2002 to give a talk at the Royal Geographical Society) and their habituated panda and her offspring. This stunning park with its broad leaf trees and bamboo thickets, towering peaks, gushing rivers and magnificent single drop waterfalls, was originally a timber concession, but today hosts one of the last remaining places where many species live including Giant pandas, Golden takin, Golden monkeys, wild boar, Goral and Tufted deer, not to mention its famous birdlife such as the rare Crested ibis, Crested eagles and the glorious Golden pheasant. Old logging roads also make this park very accessible and less physically demanding to track pandas in its forests. It is said to have the highest density of pandas in China, at 0.34 giant pandas per square kilometre.

Foping Nature Reserve

Foping is part of a contiguous area of the Qinling Mountains comprising over 115,000 hectares, and now consisting of 8 nature reserves joined together, today one of the most biologically diverse habitats in China with the greatest concentration of pandas in the world. These mountains are the natural division between north and south China and are the watershed for two of the most important rivers, the Yangtse and Yellow rivers.

Foping borders Changqing and other reserves, including Zhouzhi and Laoxiancheng, and has been largely left intact and is only just beginning to open to nature tourism of any sort. Around 27 pandas are said to live within the ‘tourist zone’ of the park, and a further 100 in core areas, as well as a host of other mammals including Golden takin and other deer species as well as the little known Clouded leopard. Its flora is also very special with Chinese Mountain Larch, the Miaotai Maple and Chinese Fir being prominent and one of the oldest tree species in the world, the Ginkgo, though at this time of year they will not be at their glorious best. Over 220 bird species have also been recorded here.

The following guide will lead the tour

View full guide profile »

Dr Xiao-Guang, 28, has been studying the fauna and flora of the Qinling Mountains for over 8 years, specialising in snub nosed monkey research since 2001 and has worked in both Changqing and Foping over many years. Today he is Assistant Professor of Biology at the Northwest University in Xian, and has recently lectured at Cambridge University and escorted numerous of the world’s leading conservationists around these mountains. His knowledge of both the flora and fauna of this mountain range, including his numerous encounters with Giant Pandas, is extensive and his ability to communicate in English, together with his character makes him an ideal leader and expert of these trips.

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Tour Highlights

Privileged insight & expertise into wild pandas and their habitat - Lecture from researcher at Panda Breeding Centre in Chengdu - Enjoy traditional rural life in a little-changed part of the country - Tour helps fund panda conservation in regions visited - Pioneering and adventurous tour programme

Itinerary

Day 1 | From UK

Depart from London Heathrow (or optional regional airports) for Beijing on Air China.

Day 2 | Chengdu

Arrive in Beijing and change flights to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, in the afternoon. Here you will be met on arrival and driven to your hotel. Meet Christine Watts, who will be your tour expert throughout the trip. An early dinner at a local Chinese restaurant to recover from the journey and jetlag.

Overnight in the comfortable 4 star Yin He Dynasty Hotel.

Day 3 | Chengdu Panda Breeding Centre

This morning drive an hour out of the city to the Chengdu Panda Breeding Centre. This is a huge garden with a large number of pandas within its walled and leafy enclosures, as well as a number of other endemic animals and birds. It’s also famous for its panda breeding programmes and you will enjoy a lecture from an expert member of the staff before visiting a restricted area of the centre. After lunch in the gardens continue tours at centre, before driving back to Chengdu and taking in one or to of the historic sites.

Evening restaurant meal.

Day 4 | Yiangsan

Today you drive a 6 hour drive to Yangsian, out of modern, rapidly expanding China into the more rural areas and rice paddies.

Overnight in a comfortable hotel.

Days 5 to 7 | Changqing Nature Reserve

Continue your drive to Huayang town, a 2 hours drive, situated next to the new Changqing Nature Reserve. The route becomes a dirt road for 2 hours (probably tar by Nov 2008) as it winds through beautiful rural landscapes and the rolling hills of the Qinling Mountains, dotted with farms and terraces. This is rural China at its best, little changed over the years and a privilege to visit in a fast changing country. Stop for lunch in a local village on the way. You stay in the nature reserve's own hotel accommodation in Huayang town, in comfortable rooms. All food is taken at a nearby local restaurant on the main village high street. Huayang town is a very charming, little- visited heritage town, with a vibrant local community and a beautiful ‘old town’, virtually unchanged from the 18th century, with a pagoda, local theatre and old wooden homes built along the main street. This evening you will meet and be briefed by the Park Director and his staff and guides, who will be part of your visit here, and watch a video about the early research on pandas in the park.

Each day will be different but every day you will drive into the park itself, about 40 minutes from town, and explore parts of this park with your guiding staff.

Tracking Pandas

Each day drive into one of a number of key areas of the park and stop to walk and see if you can spot pandas and other wildlife. The group will be split into two to better ensure tracking success. The guides will be able to show you signs, scat and spoor of wild pandas and other wildlife. Furthermore, the chances of seeing pandas are good (though not guaranteed) during the winter months as they are easiest to track with snow on the ground, and also they move down from the high mountains into the lower valleys.

Other activities on these days will include:

- Guided walk of Huayang Village old town and traditional farming areas around the park region;

- Discover local plants and traditional Chinese medicines;

- You may also have the option of a night’s camping within the park itself, but this will be dependent on the weather and obtaining the permit to do so;

- Visits to some of the cultural sites in the area including the Han Dynasty Tangluo Trail, with remains of ancient temples, shrines and roads; and

- An optional family home stay visit is also possible – in a rural area in a home built in the ancient style. Hospitable, very rustic and fascinating.

Breakfast and dinner are taken in a local restaurant, where the cook prepares traditional local dishes and Shaanxi province specialities. Take part in baihui drinking competitions! Lunch will generally be a picnic when in the park itself.

Day 8 | Foping

Set off after an early breakfast to Foping Town, a 7-hour drive. It’s a pretty drive for the most part and mixes traditional China with the new, bold China when travelling along the massive new motorway that carves its way directly through the mountains. Lunch on the way and a late afternoon visit the Foping town’s ‘Man and Nature Education Centre’ before continuing into Foping Town for the night. Dinner and briefing from the panda research team in the simple but comfortable Foping Hotel.

Days 9 to 11 | Foping Nature Reserve

Early morning set off for the Park entrance at the top of the Foping mountain ridge. Here you will be met by a mule train which will carry your main baggage while you enjoy a good two-hour hike along a well-made trail through a beautiful park valley (8 km) to get to your accommodation, a old protection and research station, situated at the apex of a scenic valley system. You can expect to see signs of wildlife at any time. Relax into your simple research station accommodation.

For the next three days you will explore this park in small groups of four looking for pandas and other wildlife in its many hidden valleys, trickling streams, high ridges and craggy peaks up to 2500 metres high. This has to be done purely on foot as the park has no roads and will often be off trail, working your way along streams and through thick bamboo forests, providing both adventure and anticipation. Reasonable fitness and good footwear is essential and warm clothing is required as snow will be on the ground, though groups will be divided according to your physical ability and interests. Snowfall helps the local guides, all former wildlife hunters who live within the park, to track wildlife and pandas in thick bamboo forests.

The accommodation in the middle of the park is a Research Station. It’s very simple, with twin bedded rooms, with sheets and blankets, wood fired stoves for warmth, and a bucket washbasin. Outside toilets at the back of the accommodation block.

Furthermore there is a potential optional home stays can be arranged with the local farmers and guides, and indeed a delicious evening meal here.

The experience of spending a few days in this untouched wilderness in the company of experts will leave you with a lasting impression.

Day 12 | Xian

Say farewell to your guides after breakfast and then hike the 8km back to the entrance to the park. Plenty of rest stops are possible along the way. Met by your minibus, drive out of the park for lunch in Foping and then a long 6-hour drive to Xian, along magical mountain roads. Arrive into central Xian.

Stay at the Jun An Dynasty 4 star Hotel.

Dinner and overnight.

Day 13 | Xian

Day sightseeing in Xian. Xian in Shaanxi province was the centre of Chinese civilisation for over two millennia and more than a dozen dynasties rose and fell here. Xian has a remarkable history, great museums and wonderfully preserved monuments and city walls. Drive out of Xian to the most famous of the sites, the 2000-year-old Army of Terracotta Warriors, discovered just 30 years ago in vast underground vaults, the burial place of the First Emperor Qin Shihuang. It's an extraordinary sight with a fraction of its original numbers excavated, 6000 in battle order, each made with different facial features and real weapons. Enjoy a guided tour of these vast vaults before lunch. After lunch drive back to Xian for a visit to the city walls, magnificent 15th-century walls completely intact, all 14 km of them. Optional bike ride around the wall. If time permits, visit the excellent Shaanxi History Museum, which takes you on a fascinating journey through dynasties showing remarkable civilisation and development in lifestyles, technology and craftsmanship.

Overnight in Jun An Dynasty Hotel (B,B).

Day 14 | Depart for UK

Early morning departure for the airport to fly home via Beijing. Arrive into London late afternoon.

Extensions

EXTENSION IN XIAN, BEIJING & THE GREAT WALL

For those who have not been to China before we would suggest a short extension:

Extension Day 1 | Beijing

Fly to Beijing early. Arrive into Beijing and enjoy a full day’s sightseeing of the city. This will include Tiananmen Square, Chairman Mao’s mausoleum, and the Forbidden City, the ancient imperial complex of palaces for over 500 years. You will also visit the remaining narrow and busy back streets of the modern capital, the hutongs, today surrounded by the modern skyscrapers of the city.

Overnight comfortable Hutong Boutique Hotel. (B,B)

Extension Day 2 | Great Wall

Today you visit one of the great wonders of the modern world, the Great Wall. Stretching 4500 miles and built over 2000 years ago it is one of the most awe-inspiring sights in the world. Around 70km out of Beijing you will visit a spectacular section of the wall, best known for its Ming dynasty guard towers and stirring views. Plenty of time to walk the wall here and then visit the Ming Tombs, the resting place of thirteen of the sixteen Ming emperors.

Evening at leisure at comfortable boutique Hutong hotel (B,B)

Extension Day 3 | Home

Drive to airport after breakfast for your flight home. Depart from Beijing and arrive into Heathrow early evening.

Dates & Prices

Trusted Partner Price Promise »

From	To	Description	Num Days	Price	Booking
01-Mar-2010	31-Mar-2010	Prices from approximately GBP 3,475 pp on twin share fully inclusive basis from UK. To be confirmed. No 2009 departure dates. 2010 departure dates: March 2010. To be confirmed.	14	£3475.00 Kind Points:781

Accepted Payment Types

• American Express	• Cheque	• Diners Card	• Mastercard
• Visa	• Bank Transfer

Nature & Kind Factor

The trip was put together after consultation with WWF China (Xian Office). Each trip will contribute to a fund that supports long term conservation initiatives in the regions visited.

Our Trusted Partner's Responsible and Sustainable Travel Policy

Our belief that responsible tourism, especially nature and cultural tourism be promoted and achieved in a way that benefits the very people that are so often part of the conservation effort but most often excluded from its benefits. We can all help to promote through understanding and action that tourism can become conservation’s most important tool and its greatest ally.

We do not have all the answers, but we aim to make all our travel programmes seek as far as possible to change a negative and non beneficial interaction or action into a positive one.

Each travel programme, whether group or tailormade, will by its very nature have taken us and our local partners, ground agents and operators an enormous amount of reconnaissance, familiarization, planning, expertise, permission, equipment and logistical support, and for our research and study tours the garnering the support of institutes or other bodies. At all stages we try to plan our ventures with these objectives in mind.

Thus in setting up our journeys we will have endeavoured to:

- Gain the full backing and cooperation of the host nation’s authorities where necessary and to obtain permission for any study based trips from the relevant persons, ministries and community leaders.
- Undertake by us or our agents full and proper reconnaissance of each area of operation.
- Wherever possible to use local accommodation, food and services in planning the travel programme
- Plan our ventures so that the maximum benefit in terms of cultural interaction, awareness and understanding is achieved by both the local people and our participants.
- Ensure that clients see the full picture, are made aware of the issues and concerns facing the tribal communities we visit and the conflicts facing the conservation of wildlife and resources in each area
- Ensure that clients have been fully briefed about the host country, its customs, cultures and its sensitivities and sensibilities, through pre departure gatherings, tour leader briefings and/or tour dossiers.
- We ensure clients, wherever necessary, to act correctly and with due reverence and respect to cultures and customs and encourage the learning of key words of the local language to facilitate this.
- Involve the local community in planning and decision making at all times, employing them wherever necessary at acceptable rates of pay.
- Continually to assess the environmental, social and economic impact of our visit, so as to avoid over dependency.
- Avoid patronising, insulting or demeaning tribal people in marketing, advertising, or when interacting with them.
- Avoid any activity that results in cruel treatment of animals, or interference in their natural way of life.
- Continue to support their work after our departure, and to raise awareness through talks, lectures and in the press of the issues raised or uncovered.
- Garner the support, backing and expertise of experts, learned institutions, non-governmental organisations and sponsoring companies for separate ventures as needed.

About our Trusted Partner

Discovery Initiatives was founded in 1997, as a specialist travel company dedicated to supporting wildlife, wilderness and community conservation through authentic wilderness holidays.

As award winning leaders in responsible travel, we have formed unique partnerships with local, regional and international wildlife agencies, allowing adventurous travellers the chance to experience the natural world in a way not possible with any other company.

However, our tours are specifically designed to provide our hosts with long term economic, ethical and environmental incentives to conserve such areas for the future. It also helps create a sustainable tourism model for generations of travellers to come, as the simple fact of the matter is that many fragile wilderness areas would not survive without tourism.

As a result, pioneering eco-travel lies at the very heart of our business.

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Tour Summary:

Other prices »

Tour name: Giant Panda and Rural Retreat Insight Tour

Prices from: £3475

Duration: 14 Days

Kind points from: 260

N&K Reference: NKT0002220

(Type this into the "Jump to" form at www.NatureAndKind.com to find this tour again)

In order to use the Send to a Friend facility you must be logged in. Please either log in above, or register if you are not already a friend of Nature & Kind.

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