Natural Beauty, Water Fall, Animal, Timings, Ticket Price, Interesting Facts and Travel Guide of Shoolpaneshwar Wildlife Sanctuary, near Kevadia, Narmada, Gujarat, India
Shoolpaneshwar Wild Life Sanctuary, one of the thickest forest of Gujarat and protected area is located on Gujarat- Madhya Pradesh border in Satpura- Vindhyan hill ranges. At the time of establishment, it was spread across 150 sq meter area in 1982 but eventually extended to 608 square meter of area and named as Shoolpaneshwar Sanctuary. It is the perfect combination of dense forest, waterfalls, mountains, animals, birds, lush greenery, Dam etc. The name of this sanctuary is derived from the ancient historical temple of Lord Shiva, located on bank of sacred river Narmada. The word "Shoolpaneshwar" is combination of words like "Shool" or "Trishul" in his hand i.e. `Pani’ and Ishwar - God. Though the temple is now submerged due to the Sardar Sarovar Reservoir, thus new Shoolpaneshwar temple is built near Rajpipla.
Here in forest more than 575 species of flowering plants like amla, timru, karanj, bamboo, mahuda, bor, herde etc. are planted. It is home of 32 species of mammals, several species of reptiles, 198 species of birds and countless insects. Sloth bear, leopard, rhesus macaque, common mongoose, Indian civet cat, Indian porcupine, four-horned antelope, barking deer, chital, pangolin, flying squirrel, python, snakes, lizards, tortoise etc. The sanctuary has the rare distinction of having flying squirrels also. Vasavas is the main tribal community here in surrounding area and they mainly depend on forest product. The sanctuary also houses an array of species which are otherwise restricted to the Himalayan region or the Western Ghats. You can visit fantastic Zarwani water fall here in monsoon.
You can plan for one day picnic along with your visit of Statue of Unity. Monsson is the best time to visit here. Its easy to reach Shoolpaneshwar Wild Life Sanctuary via road, rail and air network. Nearest but station is at Rajpipla at 10 km, nearest airport is at Vadodara at 90 km, also you can reach via Bharuch which is at 80 km. Also Kevadia is also at just 14 km from Zarwani waterfall which is inside the century, one of the key attraction here.
