Felix Basiime, 12 October 2009 [http://allafrica.com/stories/200910120689.html]
River Rwimi separates Kabarole and Kasese districts, and at Rwagimba are hot springs said to have healing powers.
It is a sunny Sunday morning; other people are holding Bibles going to church to worship but others including cows, sheep and goats are ascending the footsteps of Rwenzori Mountain for healing at Rwagimba hot springs in Kibiito Sub County in Kabarole District.
The journey to Rwagimba is very tiresome with long stretches of steep hills and slopes occupied with thorny shrubs. It feels like you would never reach but eventually roaring sounds come as the fast waters roll over rows of big white stones in the valley and paint River Rwimi white from a distance.
The river snakes through the valleys of several mountains.
A good mountaineer can make it in four hours but because of my heavy weight, it took me and my guides five hours to reach the hot springs.
The journey started with branching off at Nyakigumba trading centre, 25km on Fort Portal-Kasese Road. Then we drove seven kilometres up to Kinyampanika Primary School in Katebwa Sub County where we left our cars.
As we ascended the mountains, we saw several water points where water keeps oozing from the rocks.
"It is from Mount Rwenzori," a resident of Buryampaho village on the mountain slopes told us.
On the mountain slopes in Kibiito are beautiful gardens of passion fruits, cassava, maize and few bananas and inhabitants are mainly Bakonjo up to Rwagimba.
On arrival, there is a sound of waterfalls, girls and women share a bath in one well while boys and men share two others and they are excited. It is about 1p.m., many look tired and haggard as an unpleasant odour emerges from the gas from the salty waters on the river banks. This is the Rwagimba hot springs, a one-stop healing centre for people, cows, sheep and goats.
Despite the "healing waters" at Rwagimba hot springs and the presence of Rwagimba Health Centre III, some people still walk long distances in search of medical treatment in Fort Portal town, about 40km away.
“When the patients get worse at Rwagimba Health Centre, the nurses send for an ambulance from Fort Portal town which stops at Kinyampanika Primary School and then we carry the sick on local stretchers up to the ambulance (more than 10km in the steep mountains)," said Ms Beatrice Ntungo.
We met Ntungo in the hills of Buryampaho carrying a three months old baby. She said she was to walk about 20km on the slopes and hills to get better treatment for her baby at Nyakigumba trading centre.
That aside, people around the Rwagimba mountain, come down to wash their clothes on the banks of river Rwimi as several domestic animals from Kibiito and from across the river in Kasese District also quench themselves with the cold running waters of Rwimi and lick the salt deposits near the hot springs.
River Rwimi separates Kabarole and Kasese districts, and at Rwagimba, there is cold running water, stagnant hot and warm waters in the springs at the banks, salt and rocks all that make the place unique and beautiful.
As we enjoyed the warm bath, I was told this place has a king. "Oh!" I exclaimed. "A king in another kingdom!" Considering the area is in Tooro Kingdom which has its King.
"Yes," Mr Edison Mumbere, 38, replied. Mumbere had just come from Kasese also to bathe in the hot springs. He added, "You have just missed him, he was here before you came but now he has gone."
Mr Musaheri Kiringabakwe, a Mukonjo, is the king of the Rwagimba hot springs and the Rwagimba hill, on the footsteps of Mount Rwenzori.
"He inherited this territory and powers from his late father, Kiringabakwe," one of the king's subjects, Mr Josua Wakulya told me. Wakulya and other subjects keep vigil at the hot springs the whole day, cleaning the place and waiting for visitors.
He said that they plan to start charging the visitors Shs300 per head although the place has no toilet facilities yet. Several rituals are performed at Rwagimba hot springs by King Kiringabakwe and his subjects, allegedly to appease the gods and save the people around the hills from any calamities.
"Every first moon of the month at sunrise and sunset, we (the kings and his committee) slaughter sheep and chicken to lessen the troubles in the area like drought, famine, ailments, etc.," said Wakulya.
He added, "Should we miss this ritual, people who come to the hot springs don't get healed and people around these hills suffer from strange diseases and crops don't yield well."
Interestingly, at Rwagimba hot springs are three wells abandoned by the King of Tooro, though in his territory, they are now in the hands of the "unrecognised" King Kiringabakwe.
"This well we are bathing in with you was for the King of Tooro," Mumbere said and he points to another, "The other one belonged to his wife and the other one was for people suffering from leprosy."
An old man who emerges from the hot water comes up to confirm Mumbere's assertion saying the King of Tooro and his wife used to be carried by his subjects to these wells at the hot springs but the exercise stopped long ago.
"I doubt whether King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru IV (the current King of Tooro) can come here to bathe in these hot springs," said Mumbere.
The journey back was also tiring as I suffered from muscle pulls and spent four days with aching legs and arms.
Other major hot springs in Western region
· The Ihimba hot springs are situated on Kabale-Katuna Road, 8km out of Kabale town. The hot springs derive their name from the Bahimba people who live near these springs. They are well known by local residents for their healing properties. Many of the Bakiga and the people of Rwanda suffering from rheumatism, backache and other ailments use the healing properties of the Ihimba hot springs.
· The Kitagata Hot Springs are in Bushenyi District, and are located near Kitagata trading centre.
· Nyamasizi Hot Springs located in Kanungu District and Kisoro District in Kinkizi County.
· Semuliki Hot Springs/Buranga hot springs, the hottest in the country with thermal water emanating from the springs with temperatures of up to 98ºC are located at the foot of the Rwenzori Mountain along the Fort Portal - Bundibugyo road in Bundibugyo district. The area has the most impressive geothermal surface manifestations in Uganda.
