Journey to Mecca

Journey to Mecca tells the story of a young scholar, who leaves Tangier in 1325 on an epic and perilous journey, travelling alone from his home in Morocco to reach Mecca, some 3,000 miles to the east.

lbn Battuta is besieged by countless obstacles as he makes his way across the North African desert to Mecca. Along the route he meets an unlikely stranger, a highwayman, who becomes his paid protector and eventual friend.

During his travels he is attacked by bandits, dehydrated by thirst, rescued by Bedouins and forced to retrace his route by a war-locked Red Sea. lbn Battuta finally joins the legendary Damascus Caravan with thousands of pilgrims bound for Mecca for the final leg of what would become his 5,000 mile, 18 month long journey to Mecca.

When he arrives in Mecca, he is a man transformed. We then experience the Hajj as he did over 700 years ago and, in recognition of its timelessness, we dissolve to the Hajj as it is still performed today by millions of pilgrims in some of the most extraordinary and moving IMAX footage ever presented.

lbn Battuta would not return home for almost 30 years, reaching over 40 countries and revisiting Mecca five more times to perform the Hajj. He would travel three times farther than Marco Polo.

His legacy is one of the greatest travel journals ever recorded. A crater on the moon is named in his honour.