Semuliki National Park was gazetted as one of Uganda’s national parks. In 1993 and renamed from Bwamba Forest. Semuliki National Park is an extension of the West African jungle that stretches all the way from Equatorial Guinea through Congo, forming a habitat for some special Guinea-Congo biome species that do not exist in other areas of East Africa.
The majority of Semuliki National Park is a 220km2 tract of rainforest that ranges from 670 to 760m in altitude. The park is situated on the Albertine Rift Valley floor in western Uganda, close to Kibale National Park, and the snow-capped Rwenzori Mountains.
It is also contiguous with the DR Congo’s great Ituri Forest and contains East Africa’s only tract of true lowland tropical rainforest.
Semuliki National Park is one of the richest areas of floral and fauna diversity in East Africa, especially for bird species. Over 440 species of birds have been recorded here with almost 50 Guinea-Congo biome species that are found nowhere else in East Africa! In terms of mammals, there is a total of 53 species including 10 species of primates. The park is also famous for its primordial hot springs that can be seen on a short-day hike. It is the closest you can get to central Africa’s steaming jungles from anywhere in East Africa
Semliki National Park is located in the Western region of Uganda, in the Bundibugyo District, about 355km from Kampala. It lies on Uganda’s border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Rwenzori Mountains are to the southeast of the park, while Lake Albert is to the park’s north.
Semuliki National Park is part of a network of protected areas in the Albertine Rift Valley.
Semuliki is also famous for its 2 hot springs. Ringed by forest and palm trees, and veiled in a cloud of steam, the hot springs are indeed a primeval, evocative sight. They are a visual testament to the powerful subterranean forces that have been shaping the rift valley during the last 14 million years.
Visitors are usually more fascinated by the local stories about their formation than the scientific explanation. There is a female and male hot spring.
Sempaya Male Hot Springs in Semuliki National Park. The Male hot spring known as Bintente is about 12 meters in diameter while the Female hot spring called Nyasimbi is a geyser that spouts up to 2 meters into the air from an opening in a low salt sculpture. The emerging water has a temperature of over 100 °C and the surrounding pools are hot enough to boil eggs in 10 minutes.
There are short hiking trails to the hot springs that lead you through a patch of forest where Black-and-white colobus, Red-tailed monkeys, and Grey-cheeked Mangabeys are common.
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