Sichuan Giant Panda in March 2026
Hi People,
I am working on my family-bear-list i.e. finding in the wild all 8 bear species of the world together with my kids. As we will be in Asia for some months early 2026 it makes a good opportunity to try and get a key tick – the Giant Panda, probably the hardest to get on the list. We could be in Sichuan late March to try our luck.
My question is: Could anyone advise on a guide/tour company with a good track record for Giant Panda? I have tried Royle Safaris, but they have no capacity (even for a private tour) early 2026, and so far I have had no reply on my emails to another expert, Sid, that I saw recommended on this website. Any alternative advise would be greatly appreciated.
Best, Henrik
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16 Comments
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charleswhood
The guide I recommended in my recent China report, Kevin, is based in Chengdu, but I am 90% certain he is booked up in 2026. You can always ask? He works with other local guides too and knows how to organize private trips. In general, so far as I know now, there are no easy ways to get Giant Panda, since the core areas are off limits, even to Chinese Nationals. You can run across pandas outside the core reserves (the way one might see a wolverine in Alaska or a jaguar crossing the road in Tikal, Guatemala), but if it were easy, we all would have done it by now. / Charles Hood
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charleswhood
China report from a few weeks ago is here, but full report by Ornis has yet to be released. https://www.mammalwatching.com/community-post/snow-leopard-pallass-cat-eurasian-lynx-red-panda-and-other-recent-china-mammals/
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Zhou Fangyi
Hi Henrik,
Of course, there are many private guides you can contact advised by others. While, if you want self-service, you may go to Labahe. It is a public park with convenient facilities, and you can spend as many days as you want. Giant pandas are often (not real often, but relatively, you know) seen there, and you can always talk with the staff and others visitors about the panda sightings.
Best, Zhou Fangyi
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mattystouffer
Hi there, could you say more about what “self-service” means in the context of Labahe? I’ll be in Chengdu at the end of the month and am considering visiting Labahe from there, but it’s unclear to me how accessible it is via public transit and how much driving one would need to do after arriving at the park. Would appreciate any guidance. Thanks!
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Zhou Fangyi
Hello mattystouffer,
Their is shuttle bus from Yaan Rail Station to Labahe, but need reservation. If no enough guests, they will cancel the schedule on that day. I recommoned you to hire a driver, stay at Luming Hotel inside Labahe, and do night drives in the Eastern Low Altitude Part with your driver. There are also shared night drive by bus which you can reserve at Luming Hotel, but not as productive as night drive by your own driver, I think.
For the Western High Altitude Part, self drive is not allowed, you can only take the bus (bus station near Luming Hotel). It is the primary habitat of giant panda, but in this season the chance to see them is tiny. After take the bus, you can continue take the cable car near the mountain top, or walk the plank road halfway up the mountain, both are adviced area for giant panda during the right season (The plank road might be closed officially, but the staff told us you can still walk on it). -
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tomeslice
Hey!
I had meant to respond to this, and forgot 😉One thing I was told by some of the best guides, was that in Labahe, you can take the bus all the way to the upper station, where you take the cable car from.
But don’t take the cable car. Instead, go upstairs above the restaurant, to the balcony, and just scan the slopes around the valley. Apparently, I was told, this is as good a place as any, to try to find pandas.The sitting and scanning for hours on hours tactic is the same one used in the other, ‘secret’ panda locations. So it’s a lot of hard work. And I was told that the only reason the ‘secret’ place is better than Labahe is because Labahe fills up with clouds and fog more days, because of the topography of that valley between the mountains. But it’s perfect habitat, and our bus driver even told us they’d recently seen a giant panda crossing the road on the way up.
Like I said, it’s days of doing the same thing until you find it. But the bonus part is that red pandas are nearly guaranteed from up there, on a daily basis.
Monty from my group saw 3 red pandas in just one morning, and I saw the 3rd one. So in conclusion: for the lack of connecting with the best of the best, who’s name I shall not mention 😉, Labahe is a very good bet.
Good luck!
Tomer-
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tomeslice
Sounds good,
Btw just to clarify: there’s no ‘easy’ way; all the guides would require you to spend hours upon hours of scanning. Only one guide has a secret location, where the scanning may have better chances to yield a g. Panda after 3-5 days… But it’s still hard work 🙂At Labahe there are also golden snub-nosed monkeys which are sometimes seen up at the slopes, and hiking the road down back to the lowest station is a great hike for wildlife and even birds like Temminck’s tragopan and Lady Amherst’s pheasant.
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Jon Hall
Hi Henrik, you could talk to Tang Jun who also has a very good reputation and advertises on the site https://www.mammalwatching.com/trip-provider/china-mammal-tour/