The much anticipated event happened on April 4th, 2019. On this date, the two giant pandas, Mao Sun and Xing Er, arrived at Copenhagen Airport after a flight from Beijing, China. The pandas were transported to Copenhagen Zoo and accommodated in the newly constructed enclosure. The enclosure is also known as the Panda House.
The yin-and-yang-shaped Panda House was designed by the world-renowned architecture firm called Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) in collaboration with Copenhagen Zoo. The cost of the Panda House was DKK 160 million or approximately USD 24 million. For that amount of money the pandas get an area of 1,300 square meters to explore, eat, and sleep.
On April 10th, the Panda House was officially inaugurated by the queen of Denmark, Margrethe II. Besides the queen, the event was attended by prominent guests, such as Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, the Chinese Ambassador in Denmark, and Bjarke Ingels.
On April 11th, the Panda House was officially opened to the guests of the Zoo. However, my first visit to see the pandas was a week later. Once inside of the Zoo, I quickly located the Panda House and joined the long line of people.
After approximately twenty minutes, I had a glimpse of Xing Er through the windows of the brand new French-Asian bistro called Panpan. The bistro has a view straight into the Panda House. Fifteen minutes later, I finally made it to the observation desk of the Panda House.
The female panda, Mao Sun, was sleeping or resting in the sun behind a tree trunk. Therefore, I quickly moved on to the male panda, Xing Er. He was busy eating bamboo shoots in the sun. He appeared to enjoy people watching him. When he wasn’t eating, he walked around looking for some more food.
I could easily have spent hours watching Xing Er. What a fascinating animal. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to to see a lot of Mao Sun. She was probably tired or not in the mood for company on that particular day. This means that I’ve an excuse to visit the Zoo again. I definitely will come back again and so should you if you haven’t seen the pandas yet. Besides the pandas, there are many other interesting animals at Copenhagen Zoo.
