Adelaide
And pandas!
I landed in Adelaide and immediately wrapped my scarf around my neck, pulling my beanie down further so that it covered as much as possible. It was 13c and rainy, but I’d come from a scorching summer day just a few hours earlier so it was quite a shock!
Adelaide is known for many things — it hosts the Tour Down Under (cycling) event each year, as well as many other sports events. Perth netball team West Coast Fever played Adelaide on Saturday, which was a loss I only heard about as the team were on my plane ride home. I don’t follow sports, so I was more interested in Adelaide for another reason: their zoo.
I’m a fan of zoos who actively care about animal welfare and who advocate for the preservation of species. We are very fortunate in Australia to have world-class facilities that are at the forefront of breeding and conservation programs globally. It makes me proud that we contribute as much as we do towards the protection of critically endangered species.
Adelaide Zoo happens to host the only breeding pair of Giant Pandas in the southern hemisphere. I love pandas so I’ve had visiting them as a bucket list item for years. They definitely didn’t disappoint!
China owns every Giant Panda in the world. They used to give them away to other countries, but pandas only live about 30 years so they stopped doing that in the late 1980's. Instead, pandas are leased by countries at a cost of $1 million dollars a year. On top of this, any pandas that are bred as a result of the union are only allowed to stay until they are 4 (which is around when they reach maturity) where they are then shipped on a special FedEx Panda plane back to China for redeployment and breeding. There are only about 2000 Giant Pandas left in the world, and 1500 of those are in the wild.
Adelaide has an amazing panda enclosure that ensures you can get right up close to the pandas if they’re in a playful mood. Wang Wang is their male panda and he loves walking at the front of his enclosure and hamming it up for the camera. I spent hours there watching him before he settled down for a nice long nap.
I’ve been looking forward to my trip for months. It’s been a shining beacon of happiness in the distance that helped me get through some pretty stressful and heart-wrenching months. It didn’t disappoint.
Have you got an activity on your bucket list that you’re willing to share? ❤
