However, it was the caravan from Cairo which ignited the imagination of so many European observers: ‘Seven thousand souls on foot, on horseback, in litters, or bestriding the splendid camels of Syria’, explorer and polymath Richard Burton observed.
The head of the caravan, the Amir al-Hajj was the official in charge of the pilgrims and their safety and along with him was a generous retinue, including judges, bakers and vets. On the way there were caravansaries and watering holes which would provide the travellers with much needed refreshment, rest, safety from attack and shelter from heat.