Things to Do in Mogadishu in June

June delivers the year's calmest seas before the July currents kick in. Hit the sand before 9am when the hagaa wind is still asleep and the water is glass-flat. You'll share the beach with fisherfolk mending nets and maybe a dozen locals - nothing like the winter weekend crowds. The water temperature sits at a bath-like 28°C (82°F) so you can float for an hour without that teeth-chattering shock you get in January.

June mornings start at 23°C (74°F) which, trust me, feels almost cool when you've lived through April here. By 6am the market is already humming - khat sellers shouting prices, diesel generators chugging to life, the metallic clatter of cookware being unloaded. You'll smell cardamom coffee before you see it, and the light is that golden hour photographers dream about before the white heat takes over at 9am.

By 5pm the temperature finally drops enough that locals emerge onto the streets. Start at the crumbling Ottoman house near the old port, walk up to the tea stall under the massive acacia on Shangani Road, then finish at a rooftop on Maka Al-Mukarama where the city lights flicker on as the call to prayer echoes between buildings. June skies often go lavender instead of the usual dust-orange - it's the one month photographers get color instead of beige.

Thirty kilometers (18.6 miles) up the Afgoye Road, June is when the first sesame and sorghum shoots turn the usually brown Shabelle River banks an almost shocking green. Farmers will let you try hand-watering the irrigation channels - the water is surprisingly cold from underground springs, a welcome 21°C (70°F) shock against the 29°C (84°F) air. You'll eat lunch under a mango tree that has fruit in June, something impossible during the dry months.

The hagaa wind dies down around 6pm which makes June evenings good for bobbing out past the breakers on a wooden dhow. You'll smell diesel mixed with salt, hear the gulls fighting over sardines, and watch the city's silhouette fade from concrete gray to a necklace of yellow lights. Water temperature is 28°C (82°F) so you can dangle your feet over the side without needing socks - something locals find hilarious but join in anyway.