THE MALE AND FEMALE HOT SPRINGS UGANDA
The Sempaya hot springs has the male and female hot springs located in semiliki national park in Ntandi town council in the western district of Bundibugyo approximately 70km form fort Portal town. it got its name from a Swahili word “Sehemu Mbaya” because it was difficult to penetrate the existing rocks during the construction of Fort Portal Bundibugyo road along the ridges of Rwenzori mountains. These unique springs have hot waters and high temperatures up to 100 degrees Celsius, the male spring is locally known as Biteete and its approximately 12 meters in width while the female is known as Nyamisanga and it gushes out water approximately 2 meters in the air
The story about the existence of the ccc
The Bamaga clan the neighbors to these beautiful springs and their folk story about the springs formation, According to Mzee Adonia Balinsanga the leader of the Bamaga clan, it is said that the Bamaga women ounce went in the forest to fetch firewood and then saw a hairy man dressed in bark cloth wielding a spear and was a companied a dog, when the women saw him they ran and told their husbands who decided to go pick him to their homes and later got him a wife from the same village.
The man was later known as Biteete went on with his activities of hunting, but one time he never returned back home and the men who brought him in the village went to search for him on reaching they did find him and the dog also but only to spot his spear near a present place called the male hot springs and it was believed he disappeared from that place. The men went to tell his wife “Nyansimbi” and she decided to run into the forest in search for her husband and she never returned home, this also made the men to go search on reaching her clothes were found at the present day called female hot springs. That’s how the two springs became to be known as female and male and the Bamaga clan believe their male and female ancestors live in those springs.
The formation of Sempaya hot springs
scientifically the hot springs are formed when the subsurface magma heats the groundwater, creating steam and hot water, the hot, less dense water rises through fissures and cracks in the ground spreading deep towards the exceptionally hot temperatures of the earth layer and water trickling down is heated and enforced backup with much pressure to produce bubbles.
Accommodation choices in semiliki national park.
The park is gifted with a number of accommodations facilities ranging from mid range which are Tooro Resort, Fort Motel, Ntoroko/Kanyanchu Ecological Site Lodge, then the luxury accommodations like Semiliki safari Lodge, Ntoroko game lodge, Mountains of the Moon(Fort Portal) and the Budget accommodations are Rwenzori View Guest House(Fort Portal), Kirimia Guest House, Toro semiliki Hostel or Bumaga cottages.
How to get there,
The Sempaya hot springs are situated in semiliki national park which is found in the western region of Uganda , the park can be accessed by road via two routes, the Kampala- Masaka- Mbarara- Fort Portal covering a journey of about 465km which is 8 hours drive.
The second route is via Kampala -Mubende- fort portal covering a journey of about 180km within 5hours drive. Upon reaching Fort Portal embark on your journey to Sempaya hot springs which will take 2 to 3 hours drive where you will pass through the rough road of Bundibugyo.
