Warmbaths in Limpopo Province of South Africa was known to the Sotho people as Bela Bela (the boiling place) but the English name of Warmbaths is a little more obvious. Two white settlers established the beginnings of the present day Warmbaths when they noticed a cloud of vapour rising in the cold winter air.
A
powerful hot spring bubbled up at 62°C amid a mass of soggy vegetation
and Carl van Heerden established a farm around the spring. When he drained
the swamp, he found that the mud had been a death trap for elephants and
other wild animals whose skeletons littered the marsh. The springs are
rich in sodium chloride, calcium carbonate and other chemicals. They are
also slightly radio active, subjecting anything in it to a small degree of
irradiation. Warmbaths soon attained considerable renown and visitors
attest that the spring water has a markedly beneficial affect on them.
Devotees believe that taking the waters is useful in easing rheumatism and
arthritic ailments. The government purchased the hot springs, which then
became public baths and the Warmbaths holiday resort grew around it.