Ibn Battutah was a young Moroccan Muslim that set out on pilgrimage of his own volition. He explains early that he had no caravan initially and set out totally alone, instead requesting to travel with an envoy of the ‘king of Africa’. This was not a king of Africa but instead a Roman province of the time, consisting of territory in modern Tunisia and Algeria. I call the beginning of his journey to attention not just to emphasize the imperative safety a caravan offers that is almost a necessity for traveling in this time, but also in an effort to understand how Ibn Battutah writes about the places he visits. His focus in each new location they reach tends to lean towards the behavior of people he meets, even remarking that upon reaching Tunis he was overcome by a grave loneliness at having no one to welcome him. By joining a caravan of frequent and seasoned travelers, the young Ibn Battutah did not receive the same enthusiasm as those who had been to Tunis before. He soon forgets this loneliness it seems, as much of his focus shifts to the festival the locals celebrate, claiming to be “overtaken” by this feast he was now participating in.

Upon reaching Alexandria, Ibn Battutah’s fascination for the people only grows as well. While he first praises the divine architecture of the citadel, saying it to be “of memorable edifices both secular and religious”, his attention seems to once again gravitate towards the people he finds there. In not just Alexandria but almost every settlement along the Nile, Ibn Battutah praises the local Shaikh as wise and displaying various forms of power. Whether or not there is any truth to the miracles he writes of, these local elders each leave an impression on his travels. The Shaikh of Alexandria seemed to affect Ibn Battutah most of all, as he gives him gifts of money and provisions and tasks him with sending a greeting to three of his cousins in different countries. Ibn Battutah spares the suspense and immediately writes in past tense that he has already met and greeted these three men in his travels, further cementing the influence this Shaikh had on his will to travel. Once reaching Cairo, Ibn Battutah does express fascination at the Nile River and how unique it is compared to other Great Rivers, but his attention overall still remains on the peoples and cultures he encounters.

Where his focus in the cities and towns was drawn to the interesting people he met, the process of travel bore clear hardships that draws his attention as well. Before reaching Cairo, Ibn Battutah describes points in their journey when the caravan had to take shelter from rain in stone or wood structures for days at a time. This seems to me that they were travelling during North Africa’s wet season, as is evident by the dates of these reports being after leaving Tunis in early November. The dry season has sparce rain, while the wet season has rainstorms that can last weeks, as his travel account clearly shows. Also be aware that the months these seasons occur differ depending location, with Northern Africa beginning its wet season around November. There is also some run in with dangerous wildlife, as Ibn Battutah recounts a night where hyenas raided their camp, though I doubt this was a one and only time wild animals posed a problem. This particular incident ends in his own personal sack of dates being stolen, leading me to believe that this was simply the worst instance he decided to write about.

Of the travel narratives we have collectively experienced as a class, Ibn Battutah stands out to me as travelling solely for personal reasons. His travels begin simply because he was encouraged to journey to Mecca to deepen his spiritual and religious understanding. Throughout his travels he meets people that tell him stories and give him advice that he seems more then happy to transcribe and take to heart. I can say I’m very intrigued at how the remainder of his journey plays out, as his accounts Egypt were fascinating.