Mount Selinda

Mount Selinda is a village and mission station in the province of Manicaland in the eastern mountains of Zimbabwe. Its altitude is 1,100 meters.

Mount Selinda is on the very edge of the Chirinda Forest Botanical Reserve – the southernmost tropical rainforest in Africa. It is at the southern end of the Eastern Highlands mountain range which separates Zimbabwe from neighboring Mozambique. The Indian Ocean is about 400 kilometers away.

Flora and fauna

Trunk of a Chirinda fig

The Mount Selinda area is home to a variety of indigenous African flora, fungi, birds, butterflies, insects and reptiles. This is mainly due to being near the Chirinda Forest Botanical Reserve, which is protected by law.

Among the hundreds of indigenous trees found in Mount Selinda are: Red mahogany, Brown mahogany, Natal mahogany, Albizia, White stinkwood, Chirinda stinkwood, Ironwood and colossal specimens of strangling figs. The largest Red Mahogany tree in southern Africa stands at Mount Selinda.

Other smaller flora include thousands of specimens of the yucca-like Dracaena fragrans, numerous ferns, creepers, vines, epiphytes, montbretia, orchids and flame lilies.

Mount Selinda boasts a dazzling array of bird life, with Trumpeter hornbills, Livingstone's turaco, African pygmy kingfishers, Firefinches, Sunbirds, African green pigeons, Owls, Nightjars, Eagles and Bee-eaters.

The reptile population includes pythons, cobras, vipers, mambas, adders, chameleons, geckos, skinks and lizards. The endemic Marshall's pygmy chameleon, Rhampholeon marshalli, is found within the forest and at the forest margin.

The variety and brilliant colors of butterflies in the area is also noteworthy.

Agriculture

Avocadoes, tea, bananas, sweet potatoes, taro, citrus, pineapples, sugarcane, coffee, macadamia nuts are grown in the area. There are also commercial timbers such as eucalyptus, wattle and pine. Dairy farming is also a part of the agriculture.