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High volumes of visitors keen to see Chinese pandas lead to traffic jams in Belgium

Xinhua, May 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

A Belgian animal park, home to two Chinese pandas, had to turn people away on Thursday after an exceptionally high number of visitors caused long traffic jams, local media reported.

Pairi Daiza park, near the southern Belgian city of Mons, advised visitors on Thursday to postpone their journey after federal police registered 12km of traffic queuing on the approach roads.

Belgian newspaper L'Avenir reported that the park remained open two hours longer to cater for visitors who lost time in the traffic jams on their way to see Hao Hao and Xing Hui.

L'Avenir notes that May 5 was a Belgian public holiday, with relatively good weather. It is customary for many employees to take Friday off to take a long four-day weekend.

Hao Hao and Xing Hui were the first giant pandas China has sent overseas for a lease term of 15 years instead of the usual 10.

Belgium became only the 13th country and Pairi Daiza the 18th zoo in the world to house giant pandas, considered one of the world's most endangered species.

About 1,600 giant pandas live in the wild, mostly in the mountains of China's southwestern Sichuan province, while over 300 live in captivity. Enditem