Wednesday, December 7, 2022

VISIT TO THE TALLEST STATUE OF THE WORLD-SoU.

Statue of Unity or SoU is the world's tallest statue and is situated in Kevadia, Gujarat. It is approx. 200 kms away from Ahmedabad and it takes 3hr 30min to reach there by car. In three days one can see all places in SoU. There is also a train called Jan Shatabdi Ex which runs daily from Ahmedabad Jn to Ekata Nagar Kevadia at 7:55 AM and 3:20 PM. This is the fastest train from Ahmedabad to Kevadiya. It takes approx. 2hr 45min to 3hrs to reach Kevadiya. From railway station, we have to walk approx. 2 kms to reach Kevadiya. We started our journey from Ahmedabad on 23rd November 2022 at 7:30 AM. We reached SoU at 11:00 AM. We planned to visit cactus garden and butterfly garden before check-in in hotel.


Before planning the trip, here are some IMP points to keep in mind.
  • On Monday, there is a holiday.
  • Week ends are fully packed so prefer to go on week days.
  • You have to walk a lot so shoes are must.



SoU Map

Places to visit :-

DAY - 1(23rd Nov)

    1) Cactus Garden And Butterfly Garden - 

    It is 12 kms away from SoU. Cactus garden consists of many different species of cactus from around the world. There is a big dome inside the dome where different types of cactus are present. Butterfly garden is present inside cactus garden. It consists of approx. 50 species of butterflies. Best time to see many varieties of butterflies is monsoon season. Entire life cycle can also be seen during monsoon. Guides are present who explains us about butterflies, their lifecycles and about their varieties. Also, there are many info boards in which name of plant and type of butterfly which lay eggs on particular plant is written. It takes approx. 1 to 1hr 30min to see both cactus garden and butterfly garden depending on the interest.




    • We headed to our hotel at 12:20 PM and reached hotel at 12:40 PM.
    • We had  booked our hotel BRG Budget Stay in advance which is the closest one from Shresth Bharat Bhavan(SBB) [Incredible India].
    • We checked in and had our lunch.
    • We started again from hotel around 1:45 PM and reached SBB where we have to park our vehicles.
    • From there, we have to board a bus which takes us to SoU bus stand.
    • We reached SoU bus stand at 2:15 PM.
    • At the SoU bus stand, there are 10 stations which includes drop and pick-up point.
    • We again boarded a bus from to SoU bus stand which took us to Dam view point bus stand.
    • As we had a ticket slot of 4 PM to 6 PM for viewing gallery of SoU, we planned to see dam and valley of flowers first.

    2) Dam - 

    It is 2.5 kms from SoU. We reached dam view point at 2:30 PM. Dam view point is some metres away from bus stand so we walked and reached the point. There is a good view of dam from that point but the water was not flowing. In monsoon season, when the water is flowingfrom dam, it gives us goosebumps. From dam view point, we reached valley of flowers.



    3) Valley of Flowers -

    It is walking distance from dam view point and 2.5 kms from SoU. It consists of different types of flowers. Different colours of roses are present there. Selfie point is there where we can take selfies. We completed both the things, dam and valley of flowers in an hour. Now, we boarded bus from Dam view point bus stand and reached SoU bus stand.



    4) Statue Of Unity - 

    We reached SoU at 3:45 PM. We verified our tickets at the entrance. We had booked our tickets in advance.

    There are 3 types of tickets for viewing statue - 
    1.  SoU Entry Ticket - This ticket is of Rs 150 for adult which includes audio visual gallery, valley of flower, Sardar Sarovar Dam view point. But it does not include viewing gallery ticket. You can also see projection mapping from SoU or Helipad campus.
    2.  SoU Viewing Gallery Ticket - This is worth Rs 380 for adult and includes entry ticket as well as viewing gallery ticket.
    3.  SoU Express Entry Ticket - This ticket is of Rs 1030 for child as well as adult. So entry ticket and viewing gallery ticket is included in this. It also includes Express entry to viewing gallery which means you don't need to stand in queue.

    About campus and Galleries - 

    We had booked SoU Viewing Gallery Ticket. We went inside the campus after checking. The campus is really huge so there are many belt type escalators which take us to the foot statue. There is an exhibition centre below statue which consists of many different types of galleries.


    About viewing gallery - 

    One can reach viewing gallery from the elevators present in the exhibition centre. The statue is 182 mts high which makes it the tallest statue of the world. Its height 182 mts is due to Gujarat Vidhan Sabha seats which is also 182. The elevator takes just 38 seconds to reach viewing gallery which is 153 mts high. Which means the elevator moves with a speed of 4 mts/sec. The viewing gallery is located between the 2nd and 3rd button of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's coat or basically from his heart. The view from viewing gallery is amazing and guide is present who explains us about Vallabhbhai Patel's dream as well as making of statue. One can view Sardar's dream from his heart. He was the one who envisioned of constructing dam which is providing 3 states of India water and electricity. On the right side of statue, there is Satpura ranges and after 7 kms, Maharashtra border starts. Same way, on the left side, there is Vindhya mountain ranges and after 46 kms, Madhya Pradesh border starts. Thus, the dam is present between Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra in Gujarat hence irrigating many villages of all 3 states. Now, we went down in elevator and saw remaining galleries.

    Front View

    Back View

    About unique feature - 

    There are escalators outside exhibition centre which takes us to the feet of Sardar. This is the unique feature as one can go inside the statue as well as go to the foot. There is platform made near the foot from where one can take beautiful pictures. From the platform, one can view statue, river as well as the dam. Overall, it is very thrilling experience.


    About projection mapping - 

    Now, we went down and reached sitting place in SoU campus where we can view projection mapping. The projection mapping consists of laser show projecting on statue itself. Using laser beams, life of Sardar is explained including his study in London, meeting of Gandhiji, Bardoli satyagrah, contribution during plague pandemic, Quit India movement and at last uniting 562 princely states of India into single union of India. From SoU, in the evening, we went to glow garden by bus.


    5) Glow Garden - 

    We reached glow garden at 7:40 PM. It is 2.5 kms away from SoU. The best time to visit glow garden is at night. There are many fountains, animal statues and moon like structure glowing in the garden. The statue as well as dam looks magnificent from here. Also, there is laser and sound show at dam. It takes about half an hr to explore glow garden. Then we boarded bus at 8:10 PM and reached SBB at 8:35 PM where we had parked our car. Then we had our dinner at Jagdish Food Zone and reached our hotel at 9:45 PM.



    DAY - 2(24th Nov)

    • Next morning, we went to Munisuvrat Swami Jain Derasar which is hardly 2 kms away from SBB(center of Ekta nagar). We did puja at derasar and then headed back to our hotel. Breakfast is included in our package so we had our break fast and started our journey at 9:45 AM. We planed to visit zoological park so by bus we reached there.

    6) Zoological Park - 

    Zoologial is 2.5 kms from SoU and we reached there at 10:10 AM. It consists of many exotic animals and birds. It also contains aviary domes where birds fly around you. There are many different zones in the park like abode for carnivores, herbivores, aviary domes and exotic animals. Inside zoo, there are many golf carts which takes us to these different zones. Lions, tigers, black panther, 4 horned antelope, jackal, sloth bear etc. are some of them. Exotic animals like ostrich, emu, llama, zebra, giraffe, wildebeest etc. are also present. It took almost 3 to 3.5 hrs to explore zoological park and aviary domes. Next, we went to pet zone which is just opposite to zoological park.






    7) Pet Zone - 

    We reached pet zone at 1:30 PM. Here, there are many pet animals who can be domesticated and played with. There are goats, horses, birds, cats, rabbits and many more. Then, we went to last dam view point one can go without restriction.


    8) Dam View Point - 

    We walked the distance of 1 km from bus station to reach view point. It is very near from dam and guides are present who explains us about advantages, functionalities etc. of the Sardar Sarovar Dam. No bus goes at that point so you have to either walk or take an e-rickshaw which drops you there. From there we went to arogya van.


    9) Arogya Van - 

    We reached Arogya van at 2:30 PM. Arogya van is approx. 1 km from SBB and 7 km from SoU. It contains many medicinal plants and health-related landscapes. It is spread across 17 acres and there is golf cart which takes us to different places inside arogya van. Alternatively, so you can also walk and explore things as golf cart is chargeable. Arogya van contains many gardens from which key highlight is "Aushadh Manav". It is a giant 3-D layout of human body in resting posture. Every human part is represented by medicinal plant that is beneficial for that part. the head, arms and legs are clearly indicated in it. Arogya van also contains other gardens like garden of colours, Aroma garden, Yoga garden, Alba garden and Lutea garden. Yoga garden is made like chess board and it contains many postures. Alba garden contains every flower of white colour and lutea garden contains every flower of yellow colour. It took approx. 1hr 30min to explore arogya van. We planned to see Children Nutrition Park but due to lack of time, we were not able to see it. We had booked Ekta cruise in the slot 5 PM to 7 PM, as it is sunset time, so we reached the pickup point of cruise at 4:15 PM. 


    10) Ekta Cruise - 

    The pickup point of Ekta cruise is besides Amul foodland in SBB. At 5 PM, the golf cart picked us up and took us to cruise. Cruise has 2 decks - Upper deck and lower deck. Seating arrangement is present on lower deck. Upper deck is open so you can click beautiful pictures. The view of sunset is amazing from cruise. It takes 40 min to reach SoU then 20 min break and again 40 min to reach SBB back. We reached hotel after that and had our dinner.



    DAY - 3(25th Nov)

    • After doing puja and breakfast on 3rd day, we checked out from the hotel. The check out time is 10 AM. We went to see Zarwani Waterfall after that.

    11) Zarwani Waterfall - 

    It is 14 kms from SoU. It is present inside Shoolpaneshwar Wildlife Sanctuary so we have to take ticket. The road inside sanctuary is very bad so we have to be very careful. The wildlife attractions inside sanctuary includes sloth bears, hyenas, flying squirrels etc. We reached a bridge at 10:40 AM from where we have to do trekking for approx. 500 mts to see waterfall. It is an easy trek so we reached waterfall without any difficulty. It is preferred to visit this place in monsoon so you can see a good flow of waterfall. We clicked pictures and then started our journey back. It takes 3hr 30min to reach Ahmedabad.


    • Other places to visit in SoU are Miyawaki forest, Vishwa Van, Maze Garden and Dinosaur Trail which I have not visited.
    • Miyawaki forest got its name from Dr Akira Miyawaki (Japanese botanist), who developed a plantation technique by which a forest develops ten times faster and thirty times denser.
    • Vishwa Van(Global Forest) is home to herbs, shrubs and trees native to all 7 continents signifying the underlying theme of "Unity in Bio-diversity".
    • Maze Garden is spread over three acres of land with a total of 2,100 m-long pathway, making it the largest maze garden in India.
    • Dino Trail is home to a replica of the endemic dinosaur. The positioning of the sculptures is in such a way that one can feel the presence of these extinct dinosaurs at this place.
    • Dabhoi Jain Tirth is on the way from SoU to Ahmedabad. It is very ancient derasar for jains and Samadhi Mandir of Mahopadhyay Yashovijayji Maharaj Saheb is also there which is worth a visit.
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      VISIT TO THE TALLEST STATUE OF THE WORLD-SoU. Statue of Unity or SoU is the world's tallest statue and is situated in Kevadia, Gujarat. ...

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        VISIT TO THE TALLEST STATUE OF THE WORLD-SoU. Statue of Unity or SoU is the world's tallest statue and is situated in Kevadia, Gujarat. ...