Guests ready exterior the gates within the frigid early hours, individuals decked out in themed gear, and even some particular journeys from throughout the nation: It was a celeb welcome for Washington’s most beloved VIPs on Friday morning. Big pandas Bao Li and Qing Bao made their official public debut on January 24, marking the primary time guests have been capable of see pandas on the Nationwide Zoo since November 2023.
Bao Li and Qing Bao arrived in Washington on October 15, 2024, ending an almost yearlong panda famine in DC. They’ve spent the final three months acclimating to their new setting—Nationwide Zoo director Brandie Smith factors out that coming to the zoo was the primary time the bears ever smelled elephants or heard a gibbon. Now that they’ve adjusted to their residence, guests can begin to get to know their distinct personalities.
“Qing Bao, our woman, she’s extra unbiased. She sort of makes us work for it. She jogs my memory of my daughter,” says Smith. “Bao Li, he loves his keepers. He talks to them on a regular basis. In the event that they’re again there working, he’s like, What are you doing? Hey, can I be concerned?”
In fact, with the return of the panda’s comes the return of their adoring followers.
Stephanie Cannon from Montgomery County arrived round 7:30 AM. She got here together with her boyfriend, however he needed to take a piece name within the automotive—and she or he needed to see the pandas. “I’ve cherished them since I used to be a child, I’ve been coming right here my complete life,” says Cannon. “As quickly as they introduced they had been coming again, I knew I used to be coming. I purchased my parking go over a month in the past.”
In the present day is a household affair for Rhys Value, who voyaged from Alexandria together with her fiancée and two children. Even the chilly wasn’t going to cease them from being right here: Actually, she advised the children to don snow pants if wanted. Value refers back to the panda habitat as her youngster’s “comfortable place.” (Amongst their Christmas items this yr? A panda mascot head.)
Regardless of the early hour and brisk temperatures, panda lovers trekked to the zoo from close to and much. Jennifer and Tommy Zickel drove an hour and half from Winchester to be there, with Tommy donning a panda sweater his grandma received him in China and a panda hat. “A yr in the past we noticed them fly off, so we needed to be the primary individuals to see them once more,” says Tommy. His favourite factor in regards to the pandas? “They’re fuzzy, they’re cute, and the black and white stripes.”
Some panda-heads got here from even additional. Lisa Barnham and her son traveled from Cleveland with one mission in thoughts: Greet the brand new pandas. The pair wakened at 4 AM this morning so that they could possibly be exterior the Zoo at 5:30 AM, hoping to be among the many first to get a glimpse on the bears.
For DC’s youngest residents, assembly the pandas was an initiation of types right into a canonical Washingtonian expertise. Many individuals who grew up visiting the pandas had been capable of carry the youngest members of their households to share that panda connection. “Folks tie them to their private reminiscences,” says Zoo director Smith.
Wearing a panda pramsuit, three-month-old Erin Alice Marz-Thompson has by no means lived in a Washington the place she may see pandas on the zoo, however that modified right now. “We’ve been in DC for 15 years, and the zoo is fairly vital to us, so we needed her to be right here to have the ability to rejoice and be right here for the opening day,” says mother Brendan Thompson. Capitol Hill residents Ellie Mueller and Arielle Brown introduced their 21-month-old niece Meredith. She’s been singing “pandas, pandas” to the tune of “Clear Up Music,” and pandas are her favourite animal, identical to her aunt’s when she was youthful.
Finally, these moments are what the pandas are all about for Winchester’s Jennifer Zickels: “It actually brings individuals collectively—that’s the largest half.”
Way of life Editor
Daniella Byck joined Washingtonian in 2022. She was beforehand with Exterior Journal and lives in Northeast DC.
