Weekend jungle safari beckons visitors to SoU

Kevadia: Bored of being cooped up at home for the past seven months? Break free with an autumn jungle safari at the Statue of Unity (SoU) in Kevadia and enjoy the ride through the sprawling Sardar Patel Zoological Park on the premises.
What’s more, the glamour’s not confined just to the wide array of exotic animals including the alpaca, lama, ring tailed lemur, cotton top monkey and capuchin monkey, the visit will get its sheen from a ride on the seaplane — a new feature to added after PM Narendra Modi inaugurates the park along with many other attractions including the seaplane service from Ahmedabad to Kevadia on October 31. October 31 is India’s first home minister Sardar Patel’s birthday and the day is celebrated as Ekta Divas.
Modi is likely to travel by the seaplane that will take off from Sabarmati River and land in a lake near the Sardar Sarovar Dam. Nestled amid the Satpura and Vindhya mountain ranges, the SoU premises offers weekend getaway destination for tourists. After staying closed for last seven months, tourists have already started walking in to the Jungle Safari which was reopened on October 1 , and about 1,800 have visited already.
A joy train ride through children’s nutrition park to be started from Saturday will be a major attraction as kids will learn benefits of living a healthy life and eating nutritious food through 3D animation. Also on offer are a number of games. For others who may want to pet a rabbit, or with a Persian cat or carry a macaw on their shoulder can spend time at the petting zone! Those having keen interest in plantations have a sprawling Ekta Nursery to visit apart from a butterfly park and a cactus park that too will be opened soon, along with river rafting for the adventure freaks. And for bird lovers, a sprawling aviary awaits them with some rare exotic avian species.
The government has also announced a ropeway project that will pass over Narmada River and offer a bird’s eye view of both the world’s tallest statue as well as the sprawling Sardar Sarovar Narmada Dam.