Giant Panda Volunteer Program in China

Volunteers will be based at a panda research station in the Foping Nature Reseve, found in the Qinling Mountains of the Shaanxi Province. The reserve was established in 1978 to protect the Giant panda and its habitat. Volunteers will spend their time tracking for pandas, and learn how to collect simple baseline data (on footprints, droppings, bamboo and scent marks). There is a large network of trails within the forests used by the research team and volunteers will help maintain these paths.

For the final 3 days volunteers will have the opportunity to explore Xian, one of the ancient capitals of China. Here you will see the Terracotta Army, the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda and the City wall of Xi'an.

This program aims to educate volunteers about pandas and their habitat and in particular about the Qinling Panda, a very important subspecies found only in this mountain range. Only a few hundred permits are released each year to international visitors to enter Foping and GVI volunteers have special permission to visit and assist at the research station. It is hoped that after spending time in the reserve and working with local trackers and researchers that volunteers will have a greater understanding about the issues facing pandas and their continued survival and can spread this message to a wider audience on their return home.