About: Big Tree in Chirinda Forest

Big Tree (or The Big Tree in Chirinda Forest) is the tallest native or indigenous tree in Zimbabwe, and a declared National Monument. The tree is 65 m tall and measures 4.5 m in diameter, while its age is estimated at 1,000 years or over. This impressive tree is growing in the centre of the Chirinda Forest (formerly known as Selinda, from the Mount Selinda Mission School of the same name) in the south east of Zimbabwe at the southernmost part of the country's Eastern Highlands. Big tree is a Khaya anthotheca or Nyasa redwood tree (also referred to previously as Khaya nyasica). In December 1986 it was measured at 65 metres tall and 5 1/4 metres in diameter. The trunk is very heavily and hugely buttressed at the base that makes measuring difficult.