Of place & position
A beachfront plot at Matemwe
Matemwe runs along the north-east shoulder of Unguja, facing the channel that separates the island from Mnemba. Cheche Vule occupies Plot 1 of that shoreline, a surveyed parcel of roughly 4,200 square metres with the beach on its eastern boundary and SeVi Boutique as its neighbour. The site is neither raw land nor a finished hotel, and that is the whole of its interest. A four-bedroom villa stands complete beneath a full makuti roof. Seven studio suites are close to done. The restaurant, commercial kitchen, rooftop bar, swimming pool and staff quarters are all in place, and the roads, gardens and boundary walls that usually swallow the first year of a project are behind rather than ahead of the buyer.
Most of the capital risk on a project like this sits in the ground and in the first structures, and that risk has already been absorbed here. Power and water are in. The pool is in. The services were laid for the full masterplan rather than for the first eleven keys, which is why phase two adds rooms without adding infrastructure. What remains is the work of opening rather than the work of building. The beach is the part no amount of capital could have manufactured.
The beach
The asset that cannot be rebuilt
The beach at Cheche Vule is white sand, and at low tide it opens out wide and quiet in both directions. The water is clear turquoise and genuinely swimmable, which is not true of every stretch on this coast. Coral rock features punctuate the shoreline and give the frontage its character. Mnemba Island sits offshore, one of Zanzibar’s most celebrated marine locations and the reason much of the island’s diving and snorkelling traffic comes to this side.
Matemwe has stayed low-density, and that is what preserves the sense of place. For a boutique hotel of eleven to thirteen keys, the beach is the product: it sets the room rate, it carries the shoulder season, and it is the one line in the listing a competitor cannot match by spending more on fit-out. Everything else on this site can be improved.
Matemwe sits close to Mnemba, which is what brings the diving and snorkelling traffic to this side of Unguja, and the low-density character of the village is what keeps the frontage feeling private.
What is already built
Standing, roofed & serviced
The four-bedroom villa is the anchor building, two storeys under a full makuti roof with shuttered openings and deep shaded terraces. Seven studio suites sit close to completion and account for most of the room count at opening. The food and beverage block is built out with a commercial kitchen, and a rooftop bar above it gives the property a second trading position for sunset. A swimming pool is in. Staff accommodation is in, which is a line that is easy to overlook and expensive to add later. On services the plot carries its own generator, rainwater harvesting, and the preparation work for solar. The point of the list is not that the site is finished, because it is not. It is that the heavy, unglamorous capital has already gone into the ground.
Eleven keys open the property under phase one. Two premium beachfront bungalows under phase two take it to thirteen.
The works in progress
Coral stone, arch by arch
This is the working end of the site. Coral stone columns and arches carry the studio and restaurant structure, laid in the local vernacular rather than rendered blockwork. A rounded coral-rock form sits at the centre of the space, built to serve the kitchen side. The concrete is poured, the openings are framed, and the roof structure above is in place. What is outstanding on this block is finish work: floors, joinery, glazing, plaster, and the fit-out that turns a shell into seven trading studios. That is the substance of the phase one budget overleaf, and it is a schedule of finishing rather than a schedule of construction.
The plot itself is recorded on a cadastral title plan at 1:1,000 as 0.42 hectares, made up of an old plot of 2,291.06 m² and an extension of 0.19 hectares, with the eastern boundary annotated BEACH on the plan.
The investment
Asking $1,800,000
Phase one is about $137,000: complete the seven studios, furnish them, equip the restaurant and bar, and landscape the grounds. That opens the property with eleven keys. Phase two is about $130,000 for two premium beachfront bungalows, taking the count to thirteen. Phase three, villa redevelopment and further expansion, is flexible and commits to nothing at purchase.
The property is leasehold. The seller is recovering capital as a 50% shareholder, and a full data room is available on request. Figures are indicative and subject to contract, survey and due diligence.
