Category: Postcards

Mount Selinda

Umtali

Mount Selinda, at an altitude of 1,100 metres, is a village and mission station in the province of Manicaland in the eastern mountains of Zimbabwe. Located close to the Mozambique border, it lies in an area of outstanding natural beauty. Mount Selinda sits on an east-facing slope, on the very edge of the Chirinda Forest Botanical Reserve – the southern most tropical rainforest in Africa.

For centuries, the local Ndau people called the Mount Selinda area “Chirinda”, meaning “lookout” or “vantage point.” The Shangani people to the south pronounced Chirinda as “Silinda” and the name “Selinda” is clearly an English corruption of the Shangani word. The first mention of the name “Mount Selinda” appears to have been in the late nineteenth century when the land in the area was claimed by European settlers. The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions approached Cecil John Rhodes of the British South Africa Company, seeking land on which to establish their mission.

Rhodes himself granted them land in the Chirinda area, much of the land situated on an already-existing farm called Mount Selinda. Although there are no documents in the Deeds Office reflecting it, it would appear that a Mr. Steyn occupied the farm at the time and sold it to the mission for a sum of £300 (three hundred pounds).

In 1892 a Mr Wilder, Mr Bunker and Mr Thompson commenced the establishment of the Mount Silinda Mission (historically the name Silinda was adopted by the mission and the name Selinda was the name of the farm). But it was not until 1901 that the American Board Mission finally obtained legal possession of the farm Mount Selinda under Pioneer Title.

Postal Services

On 1st April, 1931 the Post Office became known as Mount Silinda. The name returned to Mount Selinda in 16th June, 1958.

• 1896.03.31 – Post Office Agency opened.
• 1897.10.00 – Post Office opened.
• 1898.09.30 – Postal Agency opened.
• 1910.05.04 – Re-graded to Postal Agency.
• 1911.04.00 – Re-graded to Post and Telegraph Agency.
• 1931.00.00 – Post Office closed.
• 1958.06.16 – Post Office opened.
• 1965.12.16 – Post Office closed.

Postmarks

• Postmarks: Mount Selinda