As the sun rises over the Indian Ocean, waves crash on the golden sand while palm fronds sway in the gentle sea breeze. Welcome to... Mogadishu.
This is the image a young Somali woman wants the world to see of her city - unlike the image of suicide attacks and young men carrying AK-47s that many now associate with the Somali capital.
Sokdi Abdul Fattah Abdul Qadir is one of a number of local tour guides who take visitors beyond the headlines, to explore Mogadishu's beautiful sites, historical sites and culture.
Her favorite spot is the island's beach, where visitors can enjoy the sea before heading to the nearby sand dunes.
“This beach is one of the tourist attractions we take our guests to,” says Sukdi, 23. “It is a beautiful place, and the sand dunes remind some visitors of the Sahara.”
But its tours are not limited to stunning views, but also take visitors to the fish market, where they discover the diversity of marine life available along the expansive coast of Somalia, and to parts of the city that reflect its history as a thriving trading center in the Indian Ocean, influenced by those who ruled it, such as the Ottomans and the Italians.
Visitors can also taste Somali food, such as camel meat, samosas and traditional tea.
Sukdi says many people arrive in the city with expectations they have built up over the years that there is no safety in this country.
“Mostly, they are amazed at how beautiful the country is and how welcoming the people are,” she says. “They are also amazed at the variety of fish at the fish market.”
The profession of tour guide runs in the Sukdi family. Her father worked in this profession for more than three decades, taking journalists, photographers and visitors from different countries throughout Somalia.
He introduced her to the business nearly three years ago.
“This job started as a hobby, but it has become a job that I love and feel passionate about,” she says.
She now works alongside her father and a team of mentors, drawing on his experience with using social media to reach a wider audience.
She shares videos of her tours on TikTok, giving people outside Somalia a chance to see places they might never have imagined visiting. She is also considering producing content in English to reach audiences that do not speak Somali.
She says tourism is still a relatively new field in Somalia, with only a few working as tour guides in Mogadishu.
Business depends on the seasons, but Sukdi says this year has been very encouraging, although numbers are still relatively low. Receiving five tourists a week is considered a success, but she is confident that the numbers will increase.
Sukdi does not hide visitors' concerns about the security situation.
Since the collapse of Somalia's central government in 1991, Mogadishu has suffered decades of civil war, destruction and displacement. Much of the city center was reduced to rubble, and basic services and infrastructure have largely collapsed.
But after the militant Islamist group Al-Shabaab withdrew from most of the city in 2011, and the establishment of the federal government in 2012, Mogadishu underwent a gradual transformation.
The return of native migrants to Somalia, and local entrepreneurs and investors have helped fuel a building boom, as new hotels, restaurants, businesses and residential complexes have reshaped the capital.
Today Mogadishu is a growing commercial centre, although insecurity and the legacy of conflict remain part of daily life.
About 10,000 tourists visited Somalia in 2024, an increase of 50 percent from the previous year, according to the country's tourism department.
Many visitors inquire about their safety before traveling, and often encounter security checkpoints throughout the city. But Sukdi says their experience on the ground is generally positive.
“What visitors hear on the news and everywhere is not the same as what they see with their own eyes in the country,” she says.
Although some question whether Mogadishu is safe enough for a young woman to work as a tour guide, Sokdi is determined to keep going. She wants visitors to experience a side of Somalia rarely seen.
“I want them to see the beautiful, welcoming side of Mogadishu, not the side they heard from the media, which is the explosions and bombs,” she says.
Somalia has the longest land coastline in Africa, extending more than 3,000 kilometers along the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden.
For some tourists, this discrepancy between the country's reputation and what they see on the ground may be striking.
Chris Reese, an American tourism content creator who goes by Authentic Traveling, has visited Mogadishu twice.
His first trip, about a year ago, was a solo visit. He enjoyed it so much that he decided to return with a group of friends who had seen videos of his visit on social media.
“It was such a positive experience – I really enjoyed seeing the country for the first time – that I chose to bring a group of my friends,” he says. What catches Chris's attention is the city's coastal location, and its food.
During Chris's second visit, he and his friends enjoyed lunch at a place overlooking the Indian Ocean before heading out to explore the beaches and sand dunes.
“The desert is beautiful and picturesque,” he says. “It is also amazing that it is only a 30-minute drive from Mogadishu.”
Chris says that before his first trip, most of what he knew about Somalia came from news coverage.
He adds: "If you only read news reports about Somalia, you will feel afraid to visit it. Frankly, this is what I saw in the media before I came, mostly negative headlines." But visiting the country overturned those perceptions.
“Coming here, on my first trip, proved to me that there is much more than what we see on the media,” he says.
Mihaela Batap, from Romania, loves the natural beauty of Somalia.
Although she only spent a few hours in Mogadishu, she visited the sand dunes and enjoyed the Indian Ocean coastline.
She says: “The desert scenery was captivating with its beauty, and I also enjoyed the beach and the sea.”
She says she was impressed by the hospitality of the Somali people after traveling to Somalia from neighboring Ethiopia.
She hopes to share her experience and encourage others to visit Somalia.
“I will post my pictures and say good things about what I experienced here. I will promote it,” she says.
“Through my tours, I give visitors the opportunity to experience our landscape, culture and people away from the familiar negative headlines,” she adds.
For her, every visitor represents another opportunity to tell Mogadishu's story more fully.
