The drivers and trucks, including one backup, arrived and Bao Bao, the giant panda at the National Zoo munched her last breakfast Tuesday at the Washington facility where she was born before she heads out on a long flight to China.

On the menu: bamboo.

Around midday, Bao Bao will enter a crate and board a FedEx plane for the roughly 16-plus hour journey to her new home in China. Early in the morning, the 203-pound giant panda sat on her platform under a bare tree and crunched bamboo stalks. It was quiet expect for the chirping of a lone sparrow and the clicking of photographers’ cameras.

Born at the National Zoo three and a half years ago, Bao Bao is leaving the only place she’s ever known as home.

“I feel like it’s this big culmination,” said zoo spokeswoman Pamela Baker-Masson on Tuesday. “It’s momentous.”

“Her birth was so spectacular and so thrilling,” she said. “And she’s thrived here. And it’s been just a joy. And now we’re sending her . . . to do her job.”

The zoo is closed Tuesday until noon as staff members get ready for the logistics of moving Bao Bao from the zoo to the cargo plane at Dulles International Airport.

Arriving along with the trucks was a crew wearing black jackets that read on the back “FedEx Panda Team.” The passenger seemed to take it all in, as she emerged in the outdoor area of her enclosure around 7:40 a.m.

About 60,000 people visited the zoo over the holiday weekend, officials said. Some came as far away as Scotland just to say their goodbyes and give well wishes to Bao Bao. There were traffic jams throughout the Woodley Park neighborhood as visitors tried to get a last look at the panda.

The panda got a few treats over the last few days including a farewell ice cake made with frozen apple juice, bamboo and biscuits, in the shape of a Chinese pagoda.

Bao Bao’s nonstop flight to Chengdu, China, will involve a team of pilots, a veterinarian and a specialized panda keeper. Also aboard: 50 pounds of snacks and liquids. Her luggage includes bamboo, sweet potatoes, apples, water and sugar cane.

Once she lands, she will go into quarantine at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Dujiangyan, Sichuan province.

Most giant pandas around the world are on loan from China and cubs that are born aboard are sent to the Chinese breeding program before they turn 4 years old. The National Zoo has had pandas since the 1970s.

Bao Bao’s older brother Tai Shan moved to China in 2010. Bao Bao is special, officials said, because she is only the second surviving cub born at the facility. Some keepers have dubbed her the ‘miracle’ giant panda.

The panda, whose name means “precious” or “treasure” in Chinese, was born in August 2013. Her mother Mei Xiang gave birth to a second cub about 26 hours after her birth but that cub was stillborn.

Many of the keepers at the zoo were reflective Tuesday as they helped get her ready for her journey.

Brandie Smith, the zoo’s associate director for animal care sciences, said that after Tai Shan left, no panda cubs were born for several years.

“A lot of people had given up,” she said. “So Bao Bao to me is the new beginning of the National Zoo’s panda program. This is part of the journey we always expect her to take.”

“A lot of people expected me to be sad right now,” she said, “but I’m so happy for her and proud of what we accomplished. I feel nothing but joy right now.”

Some visitors, and even zoo keepers, have said they expect to get emotional as Bao Bao leaves the facility where she was born.

But Baker-Masson said the departure is not a loss.

“It’s definitely emotional, and it’s tugging a little bit on me. . . Unfortunately we have to send her away,” she said. But on a high note, she said, the zoo had reached its goal.

Bao Bao, a 3-year-old female panda, licks honey from a crate during her final days at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo Giant Pandas exhibit in Washington, D.C. Bao Bao is destined for a new home in Chengdu, China, courtesy of the FedEx Panda Express, a 777-Freighter leaving Tuesday afternoon. MUST CREDIT: Photo for The Washington Post by Amanda Voisard.

The Washington Post

Bao Bao, a 3-year-old female panda, licks honey from a crate during her final days at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo Giant Pandas exhibit in Washington, D.C. Bao Bao is destined for a new home in Chengdu, China, courtesy of the FedEx Panda Express, a 777-Freighter leaving Tuesday afternoon. MUST CREDIT: Photo for The Washington Post by Amanda Voisard.