The pandas, the second pair of the rare animals that the central government presents to Hong Kong, are gifts in celebration of the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland.

The truck carrying the couple departed the China Panda Protection and Research Center in Wolong around 8:00 a.m. Thursday in rain for the airport more than 100 km away in the provincial capital of Chengdu, where they will take a special plane to Hong Kong.

The pandas were placed at 7:00 a.m. inside two iron-wood cages, which are 1.45 meters long, 1.12 meters wide and 1.55 meters high.

"The cubs are in a good shape and the 10-hour journey won't be a big problem for them," Li Wei, a publicity official of the Wolong Center, told Xinhua.

They will have comfortable space and enough food and water during the trip, according to Li.

Both born in 2005 at the Wolong Center, the male panda presently identified as No. 606 weighs 69.6 kilograms and the female, No. 610, 61.3 kilograms, according to Li.

Selected out of 15 candidates, they are described as "well-mannered, lovely, mentally healthy and easy going".

The pandas will be taken care of through out the trip by five experts including a vet and a feeder from the research center, and a vet, a feeder and a nurse from the Hong Kong Ocean Park, who had been trained to take care of the pandas in Wolong for three months.

The chartered plane are expected to arrive at the Hong Kong International Airport at around 4:30 p.m., where a handover ceremony will be held and the names of the pandas will be announced.

A vet from the Hong Kong Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department will go on board to conduct preliminary checkups for the pairs when they landed to make sure they are fit for further transportation.

The pandas will then be transported straight from the airport to the Ocean Park where they will be quarantined for about 30 days.

After adapting to their new living environment in the Ocean Park, the pandas are expected to meet the Hong Kong public on July 1.

The Central Government presented the first pair of pandas, "An An" and "Jia Jia," as gifts to Hong Kong in 1999 and they now also live at the Ocean Park.