Pandas inspire new pathways for tours

Giant panda, the much-loved animal that has made Sichuan a household name among tourists worldwide, is also being used as the benchmark animal for the province's ecological well-being.

The good news for lovers of panda is that, the International Union for Conservation of Nature announced in September 2016 that the classification for the animal has improved from endangered to vulnerable, thanks to the substantial growth in numbers in both the wild and in captivity.

Sichuan is the world's major habitat for giant pandas. It is currently home to 75 percent of all giant pandas in the world, with more than 1,000 living in the wild in the Siguniang Mountains, Wenchuan, Baoxing and Ya'an.

The province is opening a new eco-tour route centering around pandas. The route will include the giant panda breeding and research bases in Chengdu, Wenchuan, Dujiangyan and Baoxing, as well as the 46 conservation zones throughout Sichuan.

Travelers are recommended to visit pandas at the breeding bases and zoos in Chengdu and its neighboring cities and counties.

However, visitors can also tour pandas' wild habitats, such as the snow-covered peaks and glaciers of the Siguniang Mountains.

The Bamboo Sea in Yibin city is another eco-tour destination that Sichuan is opening to travelers.

The scenic area in the south of Sichuan covers a total area of 120 square kilometers and boasts more than 400 varieties of bamboo.

The area's forest coverage is 92.4 percent, resulting in it being informally called a "big natural oxygen bar".

One of the remarkable features of the bamboo sea is a long trail paved with red sandstone and shaded by bamboo on both sides. The trail connects different scenic sites in the area.

(China Daily 07/23/2019 page18)