Rahma Traveler - رحمة

@rahmatraveler

You know that itch to break free and explore, even when everyone tells you it’s impossible? That’s Rahma Arafa’s whole vibe. At just 23, this Egyptian adventurer is rewriting the rules for solo female travel, one passport stamp at a time. Based in Cairo but rarely home, Rahma’s TikTok feed feels like crashing a friend’s backpacking trip—raw, unfiltered, and packed with moments you’d screenshot to send your group chat. Forget staged luxury resorts; she’s filming herself haggling for spices in a Marrakech alley at dawn or giggling through a failed attempt to set up a tent solo in the Sinai Desert. Her mission? To prove Egyptian women belong everywhere, from Sri Lankan tea plantations (her first solo trip, where she barely spoke English) to Namibian dunes. And yeah, she’s arguing with her mom about it all in the captions—real talk about guilt trips from family who still whisper “*haram*” over深夜 phone calls.

Rahma’s content thrives on the messy middle of travel—the stuff Instagram often glosses over. One clip shows her sticky with mango juice in Zanzibar, patiently learning Swahili phrases from street vendors after getting hopelessly lost. Another zooms in on her hands sketching a waterfall near Cape Town (she’s a painter offline, which explains why her sunset timelapses feel so textured). You won’t find sponsored airport lounges here. Instead, she documents 12-hour bus rides squeezed beside goats, laughing as locals teach her dance moves mid-journey. It’s this authenticity that’s resonated: her “*Why I took a one-way ticket at 19*” video blew up with 2.3M views, filled with comments like “*She’s my guardian angel—I booked my first flight after this.*”

What makes her stand out isn’t just the destinations—it’s how she dismantles stereotypes while soaking in a hostel tub. When she visited Harare, Zimbabwe, she didn’t just post market reels; she interviewed a grandmother running a community kitchen, subtitled in Arabic to reach her core audience back home. “*People think Africa is one country,*” she shrugs in a candid, calling out how Egyptian media frames the continent. Her followers—mostly young Arab women—tag her in their own first-trip photos, some wearing *hijabs* while zip-lining or hiking. Rahma replies to nearly all of them, dropping practical gems: “*Pack a scarf. It’s for sun, prayer, *and* bribing bus drivers when schedules ‘flex.’*”

Behind the wanderlust, there’s quiet resilience. Growing up in Saudi Arabia as an expat taught her cultural nuance early, but her family’s initial fury over solo travel was brutal—imagine sneaking out for airport cabs while pretending to visit a “sick aunt.” Now, she channels that friction into purpose. Her series “*Safe-ish Tips for Brown Girls*” covers everything from spotting fake taxis in Cairo to handling unwanted attention with humor (“*If he says ‘*habibti*,’ I reply ‘*my husband’s right here*’ while pointing at my backpack*”). It’s advice born from hard-won lessons, like the time she got stranded in Mozambique and bonded with fishermen who taught her net-mending.

Today, Rahma’s chasing her goal to become the first Egyptian woman to circle the globe, currently deep in Southern Africa. Her latest clips feature dusty roads in Botswana and candid chats with anti-poaching rangers—but always with that contagious joy. She’s not selling dreams; she’s handing out keys. Follow her not for perfect itineraries, but for the messy, magical truth that adventure starts when you mute the naysayers.