Located in one of Uganda’s most visited places, Sempaya hot springs aka the Semuliki hot springs is found in the far south west of Uganda at Semiliki national park. This park covering 220squarekm is among Uganda’s largest national park and was put into gazette in in October 1993.Semiliki national park is located in Bundibugyo district in Bwamba county south west of Uganda.
Sempaya hot springs are found in two places in the national park; it first hot-spring is called ‘bintente” male and the second hot is called “nyasimbi” the female. These springs form a steamy evaporating view that’s from the 103 degrees boils from the pool of waters.
The Sempaya female hot spring it is a 30-minute trek to the male spring; it is so hot that it even enables a boil of an egg for the hungry trekkers. The word Sempaya was driven from a Kiswahili word “sehemu mbaya” meaning a bad side.
Differentiating the Springs
The Bagama people created the story of differentiating the Sempaya hot springs into male and female.
The tale of the male Sempaya began a long time ago. Some women went to fetch water and found a hairy old man wielding his spear, who scared them. They returned to the village and reported the presence of this man, leading to his unfortunate welcome into the village. The villagers took him in and gave him a woman named Nyasimbi.
One day, the old man went hunting in the bush but never came back. When the villagers searched for him, they only found his spear at the spring, which they then called the male spring.
When they returned to report to his wife, they found her missing as well. The Bagama people conducted a search for her and found only her clothes at the springs, hence naming them the female spring.
The Sempaya hot springs hold significant importance for the Bagama people, who conduct rituals around them. They believe their ancestors still exist within the springs, with female ancestors residing around the female hot spring and male ancestors at the male hot spring.
The breathtaking view of the thick green forest on the trail to the hot springs offers a chance to see primates such as the white colobus, red-tailed monkey, and grey-cheeked mangabey. Bird lovers can enjoy sightings of hornbills, yellow-throated tinkerbirds, honeyguide greenbuls, and red-rumped birds on the fun and exciting trail to the hot springs.
Other attractions…
Besides the Sempaya hot springs, the national park is endowed with other attractions worth exploring.
While at the view of the gorgeous Sempaya hot-spring, tourists can also experience a 6km trek on the Ntandi road. This road leads to an encounter with the Batwa people that show case the culture and lifestyle.
The bird life of Semuliki national park has been a great attraction to bird lovers. The park is home to 400 bird species that are located in the swamps and forests of the park. The park holds 60% of Uganda’s bird population in its area.
Birds in Semuliki national park include Blue billed, Maxwell’s black weaver, Red billed helmet shrike, Nkulengu rail, Black wattled hornbill, lyre tailed honey guide, lturi Batis, Black wattled hornbill, Congo serpent Eagle Red tailed honey guide and many more.
A sight of a number of wildlife species in Semuliki national park can be experienced. The park is home to about 60 mammal species. These include the African Buffalo, hippos, leopards, African elephants, the endemic flying squirrel, duikers and number of primate species such as the Mona monkeys to mention but a few.
Others in brief are; guided nature walks, game drives.
Would you like to plan a trip to Semuliki National park with us? Contact us here today and we will be happy to help.
