San Martinho Beach Club - Location

Beautiful Lagoon Setting
Bilene is situated in Gaza Province a mere 190km north of Maputo on good tarred roads all the way. It is a charming seaside village perched on the edge of a stunning 13.5km long tropical salt water lagoon known as Lagoa Uembje.

Its lagoon-side setting has earned Praia do Bilene the description of the "Knysna" of Mozambique. However in reality the lagoon is bigger and its stunning white beaches and warm turquoise waters are more reminiscent of Mauritius than Knysna. The distance from the western shoreline to the lagoon mouth on the east shore where it enters the Indian Ocean is over 3 kilometres. The lagoon offers safe swimming.

To the south and north of the Lagoa Uembje are large fresh water lakes. The two largest of these lie to the south and are known as Lagoa Muandje and Lagoa Pati. The lakes are separated from the Indian Ocean by high vegetated dunes.

All-in-all Bilene is a place of faraway dreams yet it's very close to home. The setting is nothing short of spectacular.

Finding your way around
On entering the village from Macia, at the traffic circle, one first sees the Hotel Bilene. Take the road that travels past the hotel towards the town and lagoon. The hotel will be on the right hand side. This road ends in a T- junction. Turn left here and travel to the second T-junction which intersects the lagoon front road.

To get to the San Martinho Beach Club development site turn left (north) and travel for about 1km passing the Palmeros Holiday complex on the right.

There are a couple of restaurants in Bilene. These include Estrela do Mar (on the left hand side of the beach front road as you head south), the Take Away Tchin Tchin and the Pavilhao Tamar. Accomodation can be booked at Empresa Nacional de Turismo (ENT) in Maputo.

Please note that Quad bikes and 4X4's are not allowed on the beaches. There are designated quad bike trails and boat launch points.

History
The name of the town is thought to have originated from Bila, an area of Xai-Xai. The Portuguese named it St Martinho do Bilene. Prior to independence, in the days when South Africans knew Maputo as Lourenco Marques they also knew Bilene as St Martino. The proximity of Bilene to Maputo and to South Africa makes it an easily accessible and very popular holiday destination. For this reason it's easy to understand why Bilene has become a tourist hotspot for South Africans as well as well healed Mozambicans.

Demographics
The town has an estimated resident population of between 6000 to 9000 people. Local inhabitants earn their living by fishing, vegetable growing and working at resorts and holiday homes. The population swells to about 12000 with the influx of holiday makers over peak times. With all the new development taking place this will increase even more.

Development
The development of Bilene as a resort village began in the 1960's. The hotel on Parque Flores was developed in the 1970's. From 1975 officials and public servants from Maputo acquired ownership of properties in Bilene and in 1976 Parque Flores was nationalised. However, from 1992 life started normalising and from 1994 the reconstruction of Bilene started. Since then Bilene has become a centre for tourism development and once again and holiday homes and resort developments are springing up. In terms of sales value (R800 000 000), San Martinho Beach Club will represent the single biggest investment in development in the area.




	Breaking Ground for Bilene

	Fractional Title Ownership incorporated into the development

	Dubai World Africa

Airstrip:
25º 16' S, 33º 14" E

San Martinho:
25º 16' S, 33º 16' E

Winchester House
4, 11th Avenue, Lower Houghton, Johannesburg

P.O Box 2216,, Saxonwold, 2132, Johannesburg

+27 11 327 7620

+27 11 327 0193

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