Stapleford Forest is south of the Honde valley, 50 km north-east of Mutare, near the village of Penhalonga and forms part of the eastern border of Zimbabwe with Mozambique. It is under commercial forestry plantations controlled by the Forestry Commission of Zimbabwe, and falls within the Mutasa Rural District Council. The Mutasa Communal Land forms the northern and western borders of Stapleford. The highest point of 2,030 m (Mt Rupere) in the west of Stapleford forms a watershed, with the Odzani river flowing southwest and the Nyamahwarara river flowing north-east.

The forest includes the three areas of indigenous rainforest and Brachystegia woodland found within Stapleford. There is a fairly large patch of montane rainforest on the south-eastern slope of a steep-sided valley beneath Mt Rupere, next to the John Meikle Forest Research Station. It contains six different forest-types and many interesting species. The upper region consists of mainly Syzygium, with Podocarpus further down the slope and Craibia forest on boulder-scree. The area has not been checked from the ground so the exact size and site descriptions are not known. From vegetation maps, the forest and Brachystegia woodland appear to cover an area of 1,400 ha.

On the eastern border is a prominent mountain, Gurungwe, which peaks at 1,885 meters and drops steeply to the Nyamahwarara valley at 700 meters. This has a good example of mid-altitude forest with Maranthes and Khaya. Breonadia grows along stream banks. The top and eastern slopes of Mt Chinyamariro, to the south of Stapleford, have a welldevelopedSyzygium forest. Most of this forest belongs to Border Timbers, a commercial forest estate.

There is abundance of wildlife in the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, with a total of 147 species of mammal, 116 reptile species, 49 species of fish, 34 species of frogs, 500 or more bird species, in addition to at least 2,000 species of plants. It is possible to see all the iconic African big game, including elephant, black and white rhinoceros, lion, leopard, giraffe, zebra, buffalo and many antelope species.There are bird specials here that are far easier to find than anywhere else in the country. You'll probably be able to tick off lifers like grey-headed parrot, African broadbill, short-clawed lark, Shelley's francolin and crested guineafowl. Others, like Arnott's chat and the Senegal coucal, are central African birds at the southern edge of their range here.