Some of us might consider a bicycle touring trip from the tip of South Africa to Saudi Arabia as the ultimate extreme adventure.
For two Muslims in their 20s, however, the self-contained bicycle pilgrimage to Mecca was a religious experience.
Imtiyaz Ahmad Haron and Nathim Cairncross traveled across more than 3,000 miles of roads in Africa and the Middle East over the past 9 months to participate in this year's Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca for a series of religious observances.
Valuable experience
All able-bodied Muslims must undertake the pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime, and Cairncross and Haron decided to make the trek from their home in Cape Town by bicycle.
Some of their adventures are seen in pictures and articles posted at their Facebook page, Cape 2 Mecca Cycle (the photo above shows them on a street in Kenya), and their blog, Cape 2 Mecca Cycle, where they wrote:
“The experience we would would gain from sacrificing some time in our lives to do this, could not be purchased with all the wealth in the world and it also afforded us the opportunity to know what is happening in the villages and country side of Africa.”
Blocked at border
A reporter for Aljazeera caught up with the two in Mecca after they successfully finished their trek and joined some 2 million other Muslims who had made the trip.
They told the reporter that after leaving Cape Town on Feb. 7 on their two loaded mountain bikes, they spent months passing through Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania, and Kenya. They were blocked from entering Ethiopia, so they couldn't get into Saudi Arabia through the Sudan and Egypt. Changing plans, they flew to Istanbul then bicycled through Turkey, Syria and Jordan to Saudi Arabia.
Although the terrain sometimes offered hardships, they never had problems finding lodging or food. Local residents were always interested in the story of the pair's bicycle travels, and they often met people at mosques who invited them home.
On the ground
I was struck by what Cairncross told Aljazeera about the ease of meeting people when you're traveling by bicycle. It's something a lot of tourists bicyclists have discovered:
“On the ground you can speak to the people… You get an opportunity that traveling by plane or car you don't get. And you learn much more, you discover much more about yourself. It was an existential experience.”
The two say that being in Mecca and taking part in the rituals is an incredible feeling. Next, they have to figure out how to get back to Cape Town.
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