SEMLIKI NATIONAL PARK

SEMLIKI NATIONAL PARK UGANDA

Along the south-westernmost tip of Uganda, there’s a hidden gem, Semliki National Park is undoubtedly one of the country’s must visit destination especially for bird watchers. Just near the Uganda-Congo boarder it is where this park is located and it is about 2 hours of driving from Fort Portal along the Bundibugyo road. Previously this park was known as Bwamba forest before it was gazetted in 1993.

Lake Albert is one of the boarders of this park in the north and the Rwenzori Mountains in the South East of the thick forest area. The park covers an area of about 220 km²  and it is surrounded by two beautiful great rivers that is Semliki River which flows into Lake Albert and the Lamia River.

Tropically the lowland forest of this untamed Semliki National Park sets averagely up to 700m and it forms an ecological setting with the great Ituri forest which stretches further 500 kms  to the Congo River and it is a natural harbor of spectacular wildlife of which some of them cant be seen any where on earth apart from this area.

Semliki National Park is an effortless virgin setting of beauty among the parks you would think to step your legs in and tick the bucket list off, for ornithology it is home to over 435 species of birds and among those, 35 are residents of the Guinea-Congo bio-me for forest species of birds and you can’t seem them anywhere else in Uganda apart from this area.  Not only that, it is also home to over 50 mammals and about 300 species of butterflies.

Even though Semliki has a lot of activities for travelers visiting here, the highlight for most of them are the two famous hot-springs and the most to beat travelers attention is the SEMPAYA HOT-SPRINGS which is the female hot-springs as it is said by the locals around this place.

ACTIVITIES IN THE PARK

Plenty of things to do when you visit Semliki, tourists often choose to go for nature walks in the thick forested area, bird watching in the park, walking to the hot-springs, Batwa cultural trails, Chimpanzee Trekking and many more to choose from. Below are some of the must do activities in Semliki National Park;

THE SEMPAYA HOT-SPRINGS

For many tourists visiting this park, the Sempaya Hot-springs are the highlights of the day, these are two different hot springs located just in the middle of this park and it is the Male & Female hot-springs. Even though the male hot springs is also unique in it’s own way, it is the female one which attracts more attention to travelers because of its physical appearance which looks like the private part of the woman but scientifically it is none related to the way most of us call it physically.

There’s actually a local story often told by the locals around this place and they believe that the Bamba people who dominates the surroundings of this park, one of their ancestors (the female) disappeared from this very place(present day female hot-springs). It is indeed touristic here, many tourists are seen practicing the eggs boiling activity at the 24 hrs boiling points where water from the ground comes out hot. Yes it is as hot as 100 degrees Celsius and that is hot enough to even cook some food.

Reaching these points, tourists use board walks to reach the ends of these spectacular scenes and it is life changing to boil eggs without using saucepans.

BIRD WATCHING IN THE PARK

As the park’s diversity of abundant bird life, it is from here where ornithologist can definitely call home. Semliki National Park is home to over 430 bird species which makes it an ideal destination for birding in Uganda. Uganda being one of the world’s leading birding destination with almost 11% of all the population of birds in the world, you’re advised to consider adding Semliki National Park on your birding trip to Uganda.

35 of the species that live here, are also residents of the stretch, that is shared by the Guinea and Congo bio-me forests and other 12 species can only be seen from here in all of East Africa. Some of the rare species you can see are the beautiful, Red-throated bee-eater, Blue-headed crested fly-catcher, Dwarf honey-guide, Congo serpent Eagle, Forest ground thrash, Green breasted pitta etc.

CHIMPANZEE TRACKING IN THE PARK

Even though less information is known about chimpanzee tracking in the park, most of the tourists do see chimpanzees during their nature walks in the forest and it isn’t guaranteed that you will see them.  Some travel guides say that there’s a group of habituated chimpanzees that you can track and see them in their natural habitat at a close proximity.

BOAT CRUISE TO SEE THE SHOE BILL

The rare shoe-bill stork is among the residents of this park and seeing it on a close range takes some efforts. Tourist normally board a boat along the semliki river towards Lake Albert. This River is 160 km long and it is home to wide ranges of water wild life, among those are hippos, crocodiles, monitor lizards and lot’s of beautiful birds.

To see the shoe bill, you have to pay some $100 USD to get access for the boat which will take you to the spots of this famous prehistoric bird in its natural habitat.

GETTING TO SEMLIKI NATIONAL PARK

The park is about 342 km from the capital city of Uganda Kampala. The park can be accessed both by road and air transport. From kampala to Fort-Portal it is about 230 km by road and it is roughly 56 km from Fort Portal to Semliki. But besides the long drive, travelers can use a chartered flight from Kajjansi Airstrip to Semliki Airstrip which is shorter and less tiresome but its quite expensive.