Tunisian woman bicycles to Makkah in 53 days

A Tunisian national, Sara Haba, has reached Makkah on a bicycle in 53 days.

Covering a distance of more than 3,000 kilometers, she started off from her home country Tunisia and cycled for over 53 days to Makkah.

Haba toured across the deserts in Egypt and Sudan and shared her journey on Instagram and YouTube using the hashtag #cyclingtomecca.

In one of her Instagram posts she wrote, “A lot of headwinds as I never experienced, a lot of sand and a lot of emptiness which made it unable for me to refill water and food. And when the loaded bicycle wasn’t killing my lower body, it was challenging my arm strength.” 

Haba tributes to her bicycle named Merzouga as that was her biggest support system throughout the journey. Merzouga can be translated to “grace with blessing” in African Arabic.

In another of her posts, Haba wrote that cycling to Saudi Arabia was not as difficult as it seemed to be. “And as unbelievable as it may sound and despite all my apprehension about cycling here, Saudi Arabia has been so far the easiest country to cycle since I began this journey.” 

As she kept her followers updated with her journey, Haba met several supporting cyclists on her journey. They also wrote supportive messages for her on Instagram.

“A special thanks to each person who has crossed my way, smiled to me, shown me the way, filled my bottles with water, offered me a fruit, shared their house with me, presented me to their family and friends, cycled with me even for 10km, cried with me and make me part of their lives. I didn’t expect anything of all what happened,” she added.