Human relationship

"These human relationship also played a role in the story," he said.

At that time, staff of Antwerp Zoo believed it was impossible to get giant pandas from China, Domb said, and when they learned about Pairi Daiza's ambitions, their efforts at accomplishing the feat were too late.

In September 2013, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and then Belgian prime minister Elio Di Rupo signed an agreement in the Chinese seaside city of Dalian for a joint giant panda breeding program.

Domb and his people spent the following months frenetically building giant panda houses with no guarantee that Pairi Daizi would be fortunate enough to take charge of giant pandas. The huge enclosure built includes a pool, cave and bamboo plantation.

Around noon on Sunday, February 23, 2014, male Xing Hui (Twinkling Star) and female Hao Hao (Nicely), two four-year-old giant pandas, landed at Brussels airport on a cargo flight and were greeted in a ceremony by Di Rupo. They would be on loan from the Chinese government for 15 years.

Domb said he was given the opportunity to pick giant pandas but he told his Chinese friends at Wolong in Sichuan that they should choose them for him.

"And they made a wonderful choice," Domb said, referring to Hao Hao for giving birth to three cubs at Pairi Daizi.

Tian Bao (Treasure of Heaven), a male cub, was born on June 2, 2016, after artificial insemination with sperm from Xing Hui, and the twins Bao Di (Little Brother) and Bao Mei (Little Sister) were born on Aug 8 last year.

"It's fantastic to have a dragon and a phoenix," Domb said at a news conference a day after the twins were born.

The second cub was unexpected, he said. He waited for four hours in front of the mother Hao Hao for the first birth. "Two hours later we were a little bit tired. Somebody shouted, 'There is another one'," he said, with excitement in his eyes.

"She is the perfect mother. She is fantastic. She is sweet with keepers. They are beautiful and fantastic animals."

While the zoo has a Chinese keeper for the giant pandas, experts were flown in from China every time in preparation for the artificial insemination and birth.

March 30, 2014, was a memorable day for Domb, when China's President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan, accompanied by Belgium's King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, visited the zoo to inaugurate the giant panda garden, including planting a magnolia tree.

"We were very honored," Domb said of the visit, the first to the zoo by a head of state other than the Belgian king." We had a wonderful time."