About the Statue of Unity
The Statue of Unity is a marvel of Art, Architecture, and Engineering. It inspires us to inculcate the ideologies which Sardar Patel stood for. It was inaugurated on October 31, 2018. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated it on the 143rd birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The Statue of Unity stands tall at 182 meters as the tallest statue in the world today.
The figure of 182 meters came up after a lot of deliberation. There are 182 constituencies in Gujarat. Therefore the statue is 182 meters tall.
Located on the Sadhu Bet island, near Rajpipla on the Narmada River, the Statue of Unity is located between the Satpura and the Vindhya mountain ranges. It rises from a star-shaped, geometric base covering the entire Sadhu Hill.
This statue has been conceived as a naturalistic and historically accurate representation of the Sardar. It wears his characteristic garments, assuming a walking stance, and oversees the Sardar Sarovar Dam, the project close to his heart.
The first step towards connecting the entire nation with the statue was the Loha (iron) campaign. The campaign was a call for the collection of any agricultural tool of iron from around 700,000 villages across India. Farmers donated iron tools for the project, and 135 tonnes of iron were collected.
The last time we visited in 2019 the entire area was in its nascent stage, only the SoU campus was fully operational- 10 Learnings from the Statue of Unity were derived after that visit. Now The visit to the Statue of Unity(SoU) is a family edutainment and experiential learning opportunity.
Statue of Unity
Travel to Ekta Nagar
We thought of going by train (Dadar, Mumbai to Ekta Nagar, Gujarat) this time as it reaches directly kevadiya / Ekta Nagar and we get a whole day at the Statue of Unity. The Ekta Nagar is a relatively new station and it is spick and span.
We reached Ekta Nagar around 7 am and took a cab to Ramada Encore. There are plenty of Autos and taxis available at the station, most have a fixed rate and hence we did not feel a need to bargain. The Pink Auto’s here are unique as they are battery operated and driven by women only. The entire town of Ekta Nagar is very clean and has excellent roads.
Day 1 – Statue of Unity Campus
Since there was time available to us before our check-in at the hotel we dropped our luggage at Ramada Encore and decided to visit the Statue of Unity -Zoological Park and Jungle Safari as it was the only place that opens at 8 am 🙂
Since we visited in March end the mornings and evenings are quite pleasant and the afternoons are pretty hot, we thought it best to utilize our morning.
We took one of the pink autos to the zoo, the best thing about Ramada is its location, the SoU buses, autos, taxis, Ekta cruise, Amul Eatery, Ekta Mall, Ekta Food Court, and Children Nutrition Park are all a few meters away.
Tip: For most of the attractions at the Statue of Unity you need to book prior tickets online. Especially the statue itself and the viewing gallery have time slots and tend to get sold out during peak seasons.
On returning from the zoo, we checked into the hotel, rested and had lunch, and then were ready for our evening excursion.
We had booked Ekta Cruise at 3 pm to take us to the Statue of Unity Campus to visit the statue, viewing gallery, museum, and audio-visual gallery. The cruise takes about 45 minutes to reach the SoU jetty. The boat had a small entertainment planned with a Rajasthani and a Gujarati dance. There is a food counter and a souvenir counter too on the boat.
We reached in time for our 4 pm slot booking at the SoU. Since it was still a little warm outdoors we decided to do the viewing gallery and the museum first before doing the outdoor section of the statue and campus.
- Viewing Gallery: The viewing gallery is 135 meters at the chest level of the statue. It can accommodate 200 people at one time. We can see an expansive view of the Satpura and Vindhyachal mountain ranges. The ranges also form where the states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Maharashtra meet. You can see a distant view of the Sardar Sarovar Reservoir, and the 12-km-long Garudeshwar Reservoir.
- The museum and the Audio Visual Gallery: The star-shaped base of the statue houses the museum and audiovisual gallery. It showcases the life of Sardar Patel, India’s Freedom Movement, the Making of the Statue, and many other informative and interactive audiovisuals.
Our pre-teen son was amazed at how Sardar Patel managed to unite over 550 princely states under one United India, applying different strategies for the same – understanding it through the audio-visual available in the gallery.
After covering these we headed to the food court on campus. In addition to samosas, sandwiches, subways, etc there is Starbucks also.
We then sat in for the laser show which is a must-see. It starts at around 7 pm/7/15 pm and gets over by 7.45 pm, the seats start filling up right from 6 pm. On certain days it might be difficult to find a place to sit.
We were totally depleted of energy by the end of the show so we decided to head by to the hotel. After an early dinner, we crashed.
Day 2 – Vishva Van, Panchmuli Lake, Glow Garden, Narmada Aarti
We decide to hire the pink auto for the day (which amounts to Rs 2000/- for 12 hours), to make it easier for us to move from one place to the other without having to wait for the circuit buses which take rounds between various attractions and are free.
We started with Vishwa Van – A Global Forest. The underlying theme of Vishwa Van is Unity in Diversity in a global context. The soil and native plantations which will survive in Indian weather conditions from the 7 continents (excluding Antarctica..:-) )have been set here. The shape of each of the mini gardens is the shape of the continent it represents. There are also a few native huts constructed here too. I really liked the one from Bali, as was a cool respite from the warmth outside.
Next, we headed for boating at Panchmuli Lake. It is a 45 min ride and it’s beautiful, if you are really lucky you might spot some crocodiles. Crocodiles are considered to be the Vahan (ride) of goddess Narmada. The entire area of the Statue of Unity is near the river, Narmada. A lot of crocodiles had to be rehabilitated during the development of the area.
It was lunchtime now and we decided to go to “Ekta Tribal Cafe at Ekta Nursery – Tribal Thali”. We had heard a lot about it but frankly were quite disappointed with the Thali. The only thing I relished was the hibiscus tea.
Each place has an entry ticket so please book your tickets in advance to avoid disappointment preferably online, especially during the peak season.
We took a break for a couple of hours during the peak heat and rested at the hotel. In the evening covered the Valley of Flowers, Sardar Sarovar Dam, and Ekta Glow Garden and ended the day by attending the Narmada Aarti. The flow garden opens at 7 pm and is open till about 10 pm. One can decide accordingly on the attractions to cover.
To attend the Narmada Aarti you should reach the ghat by 7.45 pm and grab a seating place on the steps. Following the aarti is a small laser show on the musical fountain. Narmada Aarti isn’t as grand as the Ganga Aartis at Rishikesh and Haridwar, but if you are a first-timer you will enjoy the experience.
Day 3 – Children Nutrition Park and Swaminarayan Temple
We hired an AC car for the entire day and started with Children Nutrition Park and then headed to Nilkanth Dham Swaminarayan Temple at Poicha.
Children Nutrition Park is interesting for kids. They have a mini train running inside which takes one to different stations, each station is dedicated to different aspects of nutrition. It is heartening to see that the government is giving importance to nutrition and trying to create awareness in kids for the same. Quite a few audio-visual aspects have been incorporated. My pre-teen son enjoyed the Bhool Bhuliya – Maze.
I would highly recommend a visit to Nilkanth Dham Swaminarayan Temple at Poicha. It is an hour’s drive from the Statue of Unity. You at least need a minimum of half a day to do justice to it, though you could easily spend an entire day. They have an open area that has jhakis (glimpses in the form of statues) from various Indian Spiritual Texts like Ramayan, The Bhagavad Geeta, and more. In addition to that, there is the House of Horror, Mirror House, Aquarium, Science City, Info City, and Boat Ride. All this apart from the main temple.
We headed back to SoU at around 5 pm and took a break at the hotel, freshened up, had dinner, and then were dropped at the train station for our journey back to Mumbai.
We skipped some of the advertised attractions like the Butterfly Garden (as not many butterflies were expected in this season), Cactus Garden, Zarwani Waterfall (less water was expected), and Arogya Van.
From a family traveler’s perspective, Ekta Nagar has been developed as a complete package. You will find moving from one attraction to the other very convenient and each place has clean washrooms which is a rarity in tourist-intensive places. The Statue of Unity offers experiential learning and edutainment. The place has been developed to bring in a sense of pride as Indians and helps in creating awareness on various environmental issues.
This was a second visit to the Statue of Unity, When we last visited in 2019 the area around the SoU campus was in its nascent stages of development. The attractions we visited during this trip weren’t ready at that time. The main motivation for making this trip was to give our pre-teen son exposure to the nationalistic values Sardar Patel represents and also an opportunity to experience the value learnings while visiting various other attractions.
Plan your Visit
How to Reach
Address: Statue of Unity, Sardar Sarovar Dam, Kevadia, Gujarat 393155
Nearest Railway Stations:
-Kevadia / Ekta Nagar
-Vadodara (91.5 km)
-Baruch (91.7 km)
-Ahmedabad (196.4 km)
Nearest Airports:
-Vadodara (90 Kms)
Where to Stay:
Tent City 1, Tent City 2, Ramada Encore, BRG Budget Stay, and more
Best Time to Visit:
From October to March the weather is quite pleasant to visit.
Things to Do:
