Wolong National Nature Reserve

Overview
Wolong National Nature Reserve, established in 1963, is one of the earliest integrative national reserves in China, covering an area of about 700,000 hectares. The Reserve is conveniently located in the southwest of Wenchuan County of Sichuan, about 130 kilometers away from the capital city Chengdu. It is the earliest integrative national reserve with the largest habitat in China mainly for protection of alpine forest ecosystem and such precious species as pandas, golden monkeys and etc.

Highlight
Wolong National Nature Reserve is well known both at home and abroad as a "Rare Genebank" or a "Natural Park". It is suited in the zone where Tibetan Plateau transits into Sichuan Basin, and its highest peak is the southwestern Siguniang Mountain with an altitude of 6,250 meters which is the second highest peak in Sichuan. There are 101 mountains nearby with an altitude of over 5,000 meters. In the reserve, there are thick virgin forests distributed with subtropical, temperate as well as tropical animals and plants, including 3,000-4,000 precious plant species such as Sichuan redwood and dipteronia, etc., over 50 species of animals, over 300 species of birds among which up to 29 species are nationally protected rare animals, 56 species of other valuable endangered animals under national key protection such as golden monkeys and takins with 12 species under first-class state protection and 44 under second-class, as well as 24 species of valuable endangered plants under national protection with cercidiphyllum japonicum and Tetracentron sinense Oliv under first-class state protection. Affected by tectonic movement, Wolong National Reserve was eroded and cut into stretching mountains and crisscrossing verdurous valleys shrouded in mist and clouds, which presents a scenic splendor.

Wolong National Nature Reserve has high terrain and humid climate which provides favorable conditions for arrow bamboo to grow, and thus is an ideal place for pandas to survive and reproduce. There are over 100 pandas here, accounting for about 10% of the total in China. The world famous "Fiftyone-Shed" Panda Observation Station provides us with opportunities to see wild pandas. Assisted by WWF, the Government of China established 13 Panda Reserves, among which Wolong National Nature Reserve is the most famous one in the world.

In 1978, the first Giant Panda observation station was established in the Reserve.

In 1980, Giant Panda Protection and Research Center of China was established in Wolong by cooperation with WWF.

In 1983, the Reserve joined "Man and Biosphere Program". The main target is to protect such valuable and rare animals as pandas and forest ecosystem.

In 2006, "Sichuan Panda Habitat: Wolong?Siguniang Mountain?Jiajin Mountain" was approved at World Heritage Convention to be listed in World Nature Heritage Site List.

Information
Location: Southeast Slope of Qionglai Mountain Range, Southwest of Wenchuan County, Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province
Opening time: all day
Ticket Price:
Admission fee is 15 yuan;
Giant Panda Museum is 20 yuan;
Giant Panda Garden is 60 yuan;
Panda Valley is 98 yuan for general scientific research;
wild giant panda hunting is 360 yuan;
Zhenghegou trekking expedition is 120 yuan
Time for visiting: 1 day
How to get there:
Take the "Chengdu-Xiaojin" or "Chengdu-Wolong" bus at Chengdu Chadianzi Station (the fare is about 40 yuan); or take a bus from Chengdu Chadianzi to Dujiangyan City (about 40 minutes by car, the fare is about 15 yuan) ), then transfer to the bus from Dujiangyan to Wolong (about 2 hours by car, the fare is about 25 yuan);