Chipinge

Chipinge is a farming town at the bottom end of the Eastern Highlands in Manicaland, 1,132 m up and close to the Mozambique border. Zimbabwe’s tea industry started here in 1924 with seed smuggled out of Assam, and the hills are still tea, coffee, macadamia and avocado estates. The 2022 census counted 34,959 people. Travellers pass through for one thing, Chirinda Forest and the Big Tree at Mount Selinda, 30 km south.

Getting there

Mutare is 170 km north. The A10 comes down from Chimanimani and swings west towards the Save, and a branch road drops south to town. From Masvingo, about 230 km west, you cross the Save on Birchenough Bridge, the 1935 single-arch bridge on the 20 cent coin, then the A16 and A10; Chipinge is 62 km from the bridge. The tar from Chipinge to Mount Selinda is single track and potholed. Tolls, roadblocks and fuel are in our self-drive guide.

When to go

Most rain falls December to February, over 200 mm a month, and June is the driest with under 20 mm. Chirinda gets up to 1,466 mm a year, which is why the forest is there. July nights have gone down to 0.6 C, so pack a jersey. Cyclone Idai destroyed 600 houses in town in March 2019.

What to do

Chirinda Forest is 950 ha of Forestry Commission evergreen forest on Mount Selinda, open all year. The Big Tree, a red mahogany about 6 m through the trunk and somewhere between 600 and 1,000 years old, stands alone in a clearing 1.8 km south of the mission hospital, by gravel road and signposts. It measured 66.4 m in 1927 and is down to 54 m as the top dies back, and still the tallest native tree in the country. Samango monkeys are seen regularly, leopard only now and then, and birders come for Swynnerton’s robin, Chirinda apalis, crowned eagle, Livingstone’s turaco and trumpeter hornbill. The campsite is 4 km into the forest, with three thatched chalets and braai stands; the turn-off is just east of the hospital.

Good to know

• Chipinge sits just under the 1,200 m line where the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority rates malaria risk high from November to June. More in our travel essentials guide.
• An earth road runs 8 km past the end of the tar at Mount Selinda to a small border post with Mozambique; Espungabera is 4 km beyond and its fuel stations run dry. Confirm the post is open before you plan on it.
• Bring US dollars in small notes; cards and ATMs fail often. Stop at every roadblock and toll gate and get a receipt for any fine. Power cuts are long, fuel queues happen, and do not drive out of town after dark.
• We list one guest lodge in Chipinge itself; the alternatives are the Chirinda chalets or Chimanimani.

Last updated 19 October 2026. Sources: Wikipedia, Chipinge (1,132 m, 170 km south of Mutare, about 230 km east of Masvingo, Moodie trek 1893 and South Melsetter, renamed Chipinga 1907, town 1946, tea seed from Assam 1924, coffee 1950, dairy and cheese, pine plantations, climate table 1,097.5 mm, 84 rain days, June 16.7 mm, record low 0.6 C in July, record high 38.4 C in October, mean minimum 13.8 C), ZIMSTAT, 2022 Population and Housing Census, population by district and ward (Chipinge Urban District 34,959, eight wards), Wikipedia, Chipinge District (A10 south from Chimanimani then west to the Save, A16 south from Birchenough Bridge, branch road to Chipinge and on to the border between Mount Selinda and Espungabera, Save River western boundary, mopane lowlands, Mount Selinda 1,230 m, Chipinge Safari Area 261 km2), Wikipedia, Chirinda Forest Botanical Reserve (950 ha, 30 km south of Chipinge, 900 to 1,200 m, 1,370 to 1,466 mm of rain, Forestry Commission, Big Tree red mahogany about 6 m through and 600 to 1,000 years, Valley of the Giants, samango monkeys, leopard, Swynnerton's robin, Chirinda apalis, crowned eagle, Livingstone's turaco, trumpeter hornbill, samango monkeys regularly seen, leopard on the odd occasion, tallest native tree in Zimbabwe, campsite 4 km in with chalets and braai stands, turn-off just east of the mission hospital, cattle grazing), Zimbabwe Field Guide, Chirinda Forest and the Big Tree (route from Birchenough Bridge via A16 and A10, Chipinge at 63.2 km, Mount Selinda hospital at 95.4 km, Big Tree 1.8 km south of the hospital by gravel road and signposts, 66.4 m in 1927 and 54 m now, flowers in November, seed in September, strangler figs with hollow trunks, entrance fee, open all year), Wikipedia, Mount Selinda (1,100 m, American Board mission from 1892, mission hospital and nursing school, single-track tar road from Chipinge ends here, potholed, earth road 8 km on to the Mount Selinda border post with immigration and customs, three thatched chalets and a campsite, almost 1,500 mm of rain a year, Chako 2 km west), Wikipedia, Espungabera (Mozambique, about 4 km from the border post, three fuel stations that run dry, chiNdau spoken on both sides), Wikipedia, Birchenough Bridge (opened 20 December 1935, single-arch bridge over the Save, 62 km from Chipinge, on the 20 cent coin), Tanganda Tea Company, home (five estates in Chipinge district growing tea, coffee, avocados and macadamias; Ratelshoek, Jersey, New Year's Gift, Zona and Tingamira; blending plant in Mutare), Wikipedia, Tanganda Tea (seed smuggled from Assam in 1924 by Florence Phillips, New Year's Gift and Ratelshoek estates, biggest tea and coffee grower in Zimbabwe), Wikipedia, Cyclone Idai (March 2019, 200 to 400 mm on Chipinge and Chimanimani districts, 600 houses destroyed and 20,000 damaged in Chipinge town), Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, health and safety (malaria risk high November to June below 1,200 m), UK FCDO, Zimbabwe safety and security (US dollar cash and small notes, cards and ATMs unreliable, roadblocks and toll gates, receipts for fines, potholes, no night driving outside towns, blackouts, fuel queues).