Bosnian man walks 5,650 km on pilgrimage to Mecca

Senad Hadzic reportedly took 10 months to reach the Muslim holy city in southwestern Saudi Arabia crossing Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Jordan as well as war-torn Syria during his walking journey.

"There was not a day, which was easy. Every day was difficult," Hadzic, who reached Saudi Arabia several days ago, told journalists, Ria Novosti reported.

Hadzic left on foot the town of Banovici, in the northeast of Bosnia-Herzegovina, in December carrying an amount of approximately 200 euros (around USD 260) and a backpack weighing about 20 kilogrammes.

During his 314-days sojourn, he had to face many difficulties.

In December he had to suffer frosts of -35 degrees Celsius, while crossing Bulgaria, the agency reported.

Hadzic said the most difficult stretch of his journey was in Syria, where an ongoing bloody conflict since last year between the ruling authorities and opposition already claimed, according to UN estimates, between 20,000 and 30,000 lives, the report said.

He said problems started already on the Syrian border and after that Hadzic had to negotiate repeatedly either with government troops or with rebels as he was crossing the country.

"One of the Syrian soldiers asked me to pray for him in Mecca if I manage to survive," Hadzic said.

Haj is one of the five pillars of Islam and every able bodied Muslim who can afford to travel to Mecca is expected to perform the pilgrimage at least once in his or her lifetime.