Sempaya hot springs are the most outstanding attractions in Semuliki National Park which is one of the newest national parks gazette in 1993 on an area of 194 sq. km of east Africa’s lowland tropical rain forest. Semiliki National Park is located in the west of Uganda in Bwamba County in Bundibugyo district on the border of the democratic republic of Congo and Uganda. The park is blessed with a diversity of plants, 70 mammals, and over 400 bird species for bird-watching safaris. You will also find 8 primates which include red tailed monkeys, vervet monkeys, blue and de Brazza’s monkey, grey-cheeked monkeys, olive baboons, black and white colobus monkeys as well as chimpanzees and 300 butterfly species.

These are found in two places and are known as male and female hot springs, these hot springs are the most visited attractions in Semiliki National Park and these hot springs as well attract birds and aquatic animals but animals can’t survive for long. The Sempaya hot springs are also known as Semiliki hot springs with temperatures reaching up to 130 degrees centigrade? The word Sempaya was derived from the word “Sehemu Mbaha” a Kiswahili name to mean difficult side. The Sempaya hot springs were called so because of the difficulty in the construction of Fort Portal Bundibugyo road because of rocks and ridges of mountain Rwenzori

The male hot springs in Semuliki National Park:

The male hot springs are believed to be a sacred shrine for the male gods and referred to as Mumbugu by the local Bamaga although tourists find them as tourist attractions. The male hot springs are to do with the wealth and sacrifices offered by men to appease the male gods or ancestral spirits in exchange for prosperity. You can find this male hot spring after an hour’s journey into the woodland.

It’s believed that the hot springs were of historical formation by the Bamaga people, according to the head of clan Mzeei Balinsanga Adonia he says the place we find hot springs is historical. The story of this hot spring is based on the story that a certain woman had gone to fetch water and it is where he found an old man wearing a black cloth holding his spear with a dog moving in a zig-zag way around this location, the man was hairy so the woman had to run home to tell her husband who came and picked the man and took him to their villages and got him a wife and this man was given a name “Biteete”. The man was a hunter but one day when he went to go and hunt he never came back so after 3 days the village men started looking for him but only found his spear, it was from here that the village people assumed that the man disappeared at this hot spring hence the name male hot spring.

The female hot springs in Semuliki National Park:

They are locally known as Nyasimbi by the local Bamaga tribe who have a belief that the sacred location of their female’s gods in the hot springs. It’s believed that when the man went hunting and never came back the wife called Nyasimbi decided to go into the forest and look for the husband but she also disappeared and left the clothes around the other hot springs known as female hot springs and this how it came to name the female and male hot springs. The Bamaga people believe that their female ancestors live beside the female hot spring while the male ancestors live beside the male hot springs and the Bamaga people perform rituals every year around these hot springs.

Although the area is now gazette as a national park, the Bagama people are allowed to access their ancestral spirits so while on your safari to Semiliki national park you might find these people undressed on the springs to search for blessings. The Sempaya hot springs are located one hour walk from the main road through the forest tracks of Semiliki national park. Once you get to the hot springs you can see hot boiling water and you can boil some simple food such as banana, eggs, or plantain in the hot springs.