Wildlife & Safaris in East Asia

East Asia may not conjure classic safari imagery, but its wildlife encounters are among the most memorable on the continent. This is the land of the giant panda, the snow monkey bathing in steaming pools, and the majestic red-crowned crane dancing across frozen wetlands.

The habitats are as varied as the animals: bamboo-cloaked Sichuan mountains, drift-ice coasts patrolled by eagles, subtropical forests sheltering ancient cedars, and the vast Gobi where camels, ibex, and even snow leopards roam. Many of the best experiences centre on conservation reserves and research bases.

The reserves and parks below offer the region’s signature wildlife, from pandas and monkeys to cranes and desert survivors, in settings that are often as spectacular as the creatures themselves.

Wildlife encounters#

Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding

The easiest place to meet giant pandas up close, where cubs tumble and adults munch bamboo across leafy enclosures on the edge of the Sichuan capital.

Wolong National Nature Reserve

A mountain sanctuary at the heart of panda country, breeding and studying the bears amid misty bamboo forests that also shelter red pandas and golden monkeys.

Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries - Wolong, Mt Siguniang and Jiajin Mountains

A UNESCO-listed cluster of reserves protecting the majority of the world’s wild pandas, alongside dramatic peaks, alpine meadows, and rich endemic wildlife.

Jigokudani Monkey Park

Famous for wild macaques that soak in steaming hot-spring pools amid winter snow, an unforgettable and utterly unique wildlife spectacle in the Japanese Alps.

Shiretoko National Park

A wild Hokkaido peninsula teeming with brown bears, deer, foxes, and, in winter, drift ice that carries Steller’s sea eagles to its frozen shores.

Kushiro-shitsugen National Park

Japan’s largest marsh is the year-round home of the rare red-crowned crane, whose elegant courtship dances draw photographers to its snowy reed beds.

Jiuzhaigou

Beyond its famous lakes, this Sichuan reserve shelters golden snub-nosed monkeys, takin, and, in its remoter forests, the elusive giant panda.

Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park

Mongolia’s desert wilderness harbours wild Bactrian camels, ibex, argali sheep, and the near-mythical snow leopard among its canyons and dunes.

Gobi Desert

A vast realm of dunes, gravel plains, and the legendary Flaming Cliffs, home to dinosaur fossils and hardy desert wildlife adapted to brutal extremes.