Bilene.

My fabulous friend from Zambia came for the long weekend to visit me here in Mozambique.  Even though it’s winter here, we were determined to see the beach (well, I was anyway).  Since coming to Mozambique a few months ago I haven’t gone outside of the city and was feeling like I needed to venture up the coast to see some beach!  Bilene is a little town about 3 hours to the north of Maputo .  Bilene is located on Uembje Lagoon which is a huge stretch of water, about 8km wide and 27km long. The shores are shallow and are ringed by beautiful white sandy beaches with rolling sand dunes.  I had been told about a lodge that was situated right on the beach which you could either get to using a 4x4 vehicle or a boat (crossing the lagoon).  We, unfortunately, picked the driving option which was not the best idea because we got lost.  After driving on the sandy dunes for a couple of hours we finally gave up and just called the lodge to come pick us up….but when we did get there it was lovely.  Cold, but lovely.  Mostly we walked along the beach, enjoyed reading in our room and sitting on the porch with an amazing view of the lagoon (covered in blankets).   We did dip our toes in the water but that was about the extent of our “swimming.”  Anyway, we headed back to Maputo after a day of relaxing (using the boat this time) and were able to explore some of the city which was also really fun.  We had sundowners at the Polana Hotel (a posh hotel in the center of town), went to a fabulous Mozambican designer’s store (Taibo Bacar), walked around the market and had a fabulous dinner at a new restaurant.  Overall, a really great weekend (a few pictures over there to the side)!

Bilene, Mozambique.