Holidaying in war-torn Somalia

Children run in turquoise water, hawkers tout wares on white sands, and families laugh as tourists disembark from small boats — but it's not some tropical island, it's Somalia's capital Mogadishu.

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"I didn't really tell my family where I was going," said Sheryl, from the United States, after walking along Lido Beach in the city.

"But from the moment we got off the aeroplane, I've been feeling totally comfortable," she said. "It's nothing like what you hear.”

To say that Somalia does not have a good reputation would be an understatement.