The Chirinda Forest Botanical Reserve is situated on the slopes of Mount Selinda, south of

Chipinge Chipinge, formerly known as Chipinga, is a town in Zimbabwe, located in Chipinge District, in Manicaland Province, in southeastern Zimbabwe, close to the border with Mozambique. Location The town lies approximately , by road, south of Mutare ...

, in the Chipinge Highlands of Manicaland, Zimbabwe, and is administered by the Forestry Commission. The reserve is situated at between in altitude, and receives some to of annual rainfall. of its higher levels, above , is covered by moist evergreen forest, specifically Zanzibar-Inhambane transitional rain forest, of which it represents the southernmost occurrence. The headwaters of three streams, namely the Zona, Chinyika and Musangazi, drain the two broad highlands which it encloses. The boundaries of the reserve are not strictly enforced, so that cattle grazing and plant harvesting are ongoing. The reserve is surrounded by communal settlements, commercial timber plantations ( eucalypts and

pines A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as ...

) and small-scale commercial farming units. The naturalist Charles Swynnerton was appointed manager of the nearby Gungunyana farm in 1900, and a number of plant, bird and insect names commemorate his collecting activities of the next two decades. Chirinda means "lookout" or "vantage point" in the chiNdau language, or perhaps "place of refuge".

Ecology

The medium altitude forest is likely the southernmost patch of subtropical rainforest in Africa. Phytogeographically it is classed as

Afromontane The Afromontane regions are subregions of the Afrotropical realm, one of the Earth's eight biogeographic realms, covering the plant and animal species found in the mountains of Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula. The Afromontane regions o ...

forest, but with lowland and Guineo-Congolian elements. It is situated on two hill tops on

dolerite Diabase (), also called dolerite () or microgabbro, is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-grain ...

-derived soils, and Müller (1991) proposed that these soil types determine its extent. Goldsmith (1876) however suggested that it is only a relic of a once much larger forest which has been reduced by gradual climatic changes in a few hundred years. Year-round moisture, in the form of rain, mist or dew, provides for a substantial and intact moist leaf litter layer, on which its ecological processes depend. Decomposition is fungal, and not by termites or similar insects as would be the case in drier woodlands of the region. Several tree species bear fleshy fruit, resulting in a good representation of mammal and bird

frugivore A frugivore ( ) is an animal that thrives mostly on raw fruits or succulent fruit-like produce of plants such as roots, shoots, nuts and seeds. Approximately 20% of mammalian herbivores eat fruit. Frugivores are highly dependent on the abundance ...

s, which impact both negatively and positively on seed dispersal. Much of the fauna shows affinities to forests elsewhere, particularly those at lower altitudes along the East Africa coastal plains.

Protection

Protection from fires is expected to facilitate the regeneration and expansion of the forest. During his time of residence, Swynnerton noted that recurring fires had been gradually reducing outlying forest patches. Destruction of portions of the Chipete and Chipungambira satellite forest patches occurred during the 1860s. It may have been aided by elephants which opened up forest, but more likely resulted from indigenous people who regularly cleared land by fire in spring time. Fire-resistant mobola plum and mahobohobo trees are pioneer species in such areas. Maupare (1993) however noted that the forest boundary was stable and that former logging operations in the northern section had no lasting effect on the plant diversity. This extraction of red mahogany, peawood and tannodia during the 1940s also had little effect on its extent.

Flora and fauna

The area is home to a high diversity of plants, fungi, birds, butterflies, insects and reptiles.

Flora

Rare tree species which seldom occur elsewhere in Zimbabwe include the fluted milkwood (dominant canopy species), Chirinda fig, undershrub big-leaf, Chirinda stinkwood, yellow bitterberry and forest strychnos. The type of the latter species was obtained in the forest by Swynnerton. The dominant canopy species, besides fluted milkwood, are forest mahogany and peawood. The sub-canopy is occupied by tannodia, forest strychnos and forest ironplum. The Big Tree grows in the southern part of the reserve in the "Valley of the Giants". It is the largest red mahogany tree in southern Africa and the tallest native tree in

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

. The 600- to 1,000-year-old (some estimate 2,000-year-old) leviathan has a trunk diameter of about 6 metres. Other forest tree species include colossal specimens of strangling figs, brown mahogany, white stinkwood, forest climbing acacia,

ironwood Ironwood is a common name for many woods that have a reputation for hardness, or specifically a wood density that is denser than water (approximately 1000 kg/m3, or 62 pounds per cubic foot), although usage of the name ironwood in English ma ...

, giant diospyros, apricot vine, forest peach, forest rothmannia, strombosia and forest toad-tree. The forest edge is characterized by smooth-barked flat-crown, forest num-num, forest sword-leaf, horsewood, forest croton, climbing turkey-berry, Manica bride's bush, green flower tree, small-fruited teclea, elbow-leaf, mitzeerie, eastern blue-bush, magic guarri, orange-milk tree, lavender tree, mobola plum, wild currant and climbing orange are common species of the surrounding savannah. Thousands of specimens of the yucca-like ''

Dracaena fragrans ''Dracaena fragrans'' (cornstalk dracaena), is a flowering plant species that is native to tropical Africa, from Sudan south to Mozambique, west to Côte d'Ivoire and southwest to Angola, growing in upland regions at altitude.JSTOR Plant Science ...

'' populate the forest floor, and numerous ferns, creepers, vines, epiphytes and orchids (including ''

Calanthe sylvatica ''Calanthe sylvatica'' is a species of orchid. It is native to tropical and southern Africa from Sierra Leone to Tanzania to South Africa, as well as Madagascar, Comoros, Mauritius and Réunion. References External links

* * Calanthe, s ...

'') are to be found. Montbretia and flame lilies are also present, while

guava Guava ( ), also known as the 'guava-pear', is a common tropical fruit cultivated in many tropical and subtropical regions. The common guava '' Psidium guajava'' (lemon guava, apple guava) is a small tree in the myrtle family (Myrtaceae), nativ ...

lantana ''Lantana'' () is a genus of about 150 species of perennial plant, perennial flowering plants in the verbena family, Verbenaceae. They are native to tropics, tropical regions of the Americas and Africa but exist as an introduced species in num ...

and

ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of l ...

are exotic

invasive species An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native spec ...

Fauna

Mammals

Samango monkeys are regularly seen, and

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant cat species in the genus ''Panthera''. It has a pale yellowish to dark golden fur with dark spots grouped in rosettes. Its body is slender and muscular reaching a length of with a ...

on the odd occasion. The local races of the mutable sun squirrel (''H. m. chirindensis'') and red-bellied coast squirrel (i.e. Selinda mountain squirrel, ''P. p. swynnertoni'') are mountain isolates. The Selinda veld rat occurs in tangled vegetation on rocky areas, and is only known from two other sites in Zimbabwe.

Birds

A few highland bird species reach their southernmost occurrence here, namely the Chirinda apalis (type locality), Swynnerton's robin, a globally threatened monotypic genus, stripe-cheeked greenbul (''A. m. disjunctus''),

moustached warbler The moustached warbler (''Acrocephalus melanopogon'') is an Old World warbler in the genus '' Acrocephalus''. It breeds in southern Europe and southern temperate Asia with a few breeding in north-west Africa. It is partially migratory. South-wes ...

(''M. m. orientalis''), white-tailed flycatcher and yellow-bellied waxbill. Wide-ranging African species include crowned eagle,

trumpeter The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

and silvery-cheeked hornbills, both breeders, Livingstone's turaco, lemon dove, green pigeon, owls, nightjars,

bee-eater The bee-eaters are a group of birds in the family (biology), family Meropidae, containing three genera and thirty-one species. Most species are found in Africa and Asia, with a few in southern Europe, Australia, and New Guinea. They are characte ...

s, pygmy kingfisher, yellow-streaked (''P. f. dendrophilus'') and sombre greenbuls, yellow-throated (''S. r. alacris''), Barratt's (''B. b. priesti'') and broad-tailed warblers,

olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'' ("European olive"), is a species of Subtropics, subtropical evergreen tree in the Family (biology), family Oleaceae. Originating in Anatolia, Asia Minor, it is abundant throughout the Mediterranean ...

and black-fronted bushshrikes, Cape batis,

sunbird Sunbirds and spiderhunters make up the family Nectariniidae of passerine birds. They are small, slender passerines from the Old World, usually with downward-curved bills. Many are brightly coloured, often with iridescent feathers, particularly i ...

s and firefinches. Various bird races were first described from this location: a strikingly coloured race of red-necked spurfowl (''P. a. swynnertoni''),Sclater, W. L. (1921). ''Bull. Brit. Orn. Club'' 41 (134) a fulvous-coloured race of wailing cisticola (''C. l. mashona''),Lynes (1930). ''Ibis''. Suppl: 229 a race of bar-throated apalis (''A. t. arnoldi''), the smallish, dusky and streaky-throated Swynnerton's thrush (''T. o. swynnertoni'')Bannerman, 1913. ''Bull. Brit. Orn. Club'', 31:56 which is endemic to the

Eastern Highlands :''"Eastern Highlands" also refers to Eastern Highlands Province in Papua New Guinea, and part of the Great Dividing Range, Australia.'' The Eastern Highlands, also known as the Manica Highlands, is a mountain range on the border of Zimbabwe ...

, and a race of olive sunbird (''C. o. sclateri''). The forest is situated too low for orange thrush, Roberts's warbler,

malachite Malachite () is a copper Carbonate mineral, carbonate hydroxide mineral, with the chemical formula, formula Basic copper carbonate, Cu2CO3(OH)2. This opaque, green-banded mineral crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system, and most often for ...

or bronze sunbirds, and too high for yellow-spotted nicator, white-eared barbet or grey waxbill. Crested guineafowl however inhabits its lower elevations and green malkoha recently populated the forest from lower altitudes. Blue-mantled flycatchers occupy the lower altitudes or fringing thickets, but remain segregated from white-tailed flycatchers which occupy the forest proper or higher canopy.

Reptiles

The reptile fauna includes pythons, cobras, vipers, mambas, adders, chameleons, geckos, skinks and lizards. Marshall's leaf chameleon, an endemic of the Eastern Highlands, is found within the forest and along its margins. The

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

''C. swynnertoni'' of the worm lizard genus '' Chirindia'' was described from this locality, while another worm lizard, '' Zygaspis ferox'', is endemic to the forest and its vicinity.

Amphibians

The

types Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * Ty ...

of Broadley's forest treefrog, Hewitt's long-nosed frog and the Chirinda toad were obtained in the forest. The Chirinda toad is known from Chirinda and the forest north of Dombé in adjacent Mozambique. It is a terrestrial species that lives on leaf-litter, and takes refuge under rotten logs.

Insects

The Mount Selinda acraea mimic butterfly (''Mimacraea neokoton'') is found nowhere else. The

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * ...

of the ebony bush brown was obtained from Chirinda forest, and it is also known from the Vumba. It flies all year and has distinct seasonal forms.Pringle, et al., 1994 The Chirinda bush brown is named for the forest, but it is in fact a widespread species. Its type was obtained at an unknown location in the Eastern Highlands, and it is distinguished from the previous species by its lighter upperside ground colour, and the contrasting

hair-pencil Hair-pencils and coremata are pheromone signaling structures present in lepidopteran males. Males use hair-pencils in courtship behaviors with females. The pheromones they excrete serve as both aphrodisiacs and tranquilizers to females as well as ...

s of the male.

Facilities

The well-marked route to the campsite leaves the main road just east of the mission hospital in Mount Selinda. It is located 4 km into the forest, and also has chalets with clean facilities and braai stands.

Site locations

* Big Tree, Valley of the Giants * Chipete forest * Chirinda forest campsite * Gungunyana farm * Swynnerton memorial

References

External links

{{commonscategory-inline, Chirinda Forest Botanical Reserve

Iziko Museums Chipinge District Eastern Highlands Protected areas of Zimbabwe Southern Zanzibar–Inhambane coastal forest mosaic Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests