Facilities for local journalists are very basic. However, we were so tired that we immediately fell deeply asleep. We woke in the morning and got ready for what is the most challenging day of Haj for the pilgrims. After staying in Muzdalifah with minimal facilities for many hours, the pilgrims return to Mina early in the morning. Many eschew motorized transport and walk the distance. They must then perform the stoning ritual, attend to the slaughter of their chosen animals, shave their hair and return to the Grand Mosque to make tawaf.

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The best thing this year was that there was no fear of a major catastrophe. Just a few years ago, Eid Al-Adha used to be a day of sorrow. We would wake in the morning and take up positions overlooking the Jamrat area, waiting for disaster to happen. Waves of sirens would alert us that a stampede was in progress. With tears streaming down our faces, we would relay the information back to the Arab News team in Jeddah that tragedy had struck again. It was our job to do, but there was no joy in it.

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Yesterday, looking out at the five-story Jamrat Complex in Mina, there was every expectation that the stoning would proceed smoothly. Last year, with just three stories open, the change in the ritual was already amazing. This year was even better. There is plenty of room to handle the crowds and the authorities keep the pilgrims moving. This is one aspect of Haj which has benefited enormously from research about this annual event.

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It must be requested, however, that the authorities seriously investigate solutions to the problem of lost pilgrims. Many pilgrims entering Mina from Muzdalifah become separated from their group leaders and agency guides. They are exhausted and desperately trying to find their tents. Anyone in uniform becomes a magnet for lost pilgrims and with our green jackets we were never able to move more than a meter or two before another pilgrim asked us for help. The pilgrims wear information badges around their necks and yellow wristbands. All the information on these identifying tags is in Arabic. Most of the pilgrims don't read Arabic, so they thrust the badges in our faces imploring us to tell them the name of their camps. Next, they want us to take them to their camps. We can't do that because we don't know where specific camps are.

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In one of the more mysterious aspects of the arrangements at Mina, the camps are not laid out in numerical order. Each national Haj agency is given a group of numbers. For instance one agency will have numbers one to ten. The next has numbers 11 to 20, and so forth. The agencies are then assigned different plots of land for their tents. Each agency gets plots at various distances from the Jamrat Complex. They place their numbers willy-nilly on those plots. This means that one agency might put its lowest camp number on its plot nearest the Jamrat and another agency might place its highest camp number on its plot closest to the Jamrat. The result is situations such as Camp 2 being located beside Camp 45. Without a detailed map, it is impossible to locate a specific camp and most pilgrims are too elderly to follow directions with few distinguishing landmarks to guide them. Simple solutions such as dividing the camps in zones by color and placing colored markers at strategic points would be extremely useful in helping the pilgrims locate their tents.

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Currently, the pilgrims try to discern their camps' locations by major landmarks. They will say, "It's near a mountain," but Mina is surrounded by mountains. Mina Hospital is another popular "landmark." All the clinics in Mina are generically known as Mina Hospital. There are dozens of individually numbered clinics -- but the pilgrims don't realize this. It is very disturbing to have elderly pilgrims kissing your hands and begging you to help them get back to their tents.

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The only hope is to find a Boy Scout to help out. The Boy Scouts come to Mina before Haj and are well trained and know the locations of all the camps. They walk about in pairs, pushing wheelchairs before them. They have instructions to place lost elderly pilgrims in the wheelchairs and take the pilgrims to their camps wherever that might be. It is not only the Arab News team that struggles to cope with the lost pilgrims. The police officers on duty in Mina are in an even more difficult position. Coming to Haj from around the Kingdom, they are assigned to a specific area and duty. They are not allowed to move from their assigned positions. The pilgrims try to get the police to help them, but the officers can't speak the same language as the pilgrims and in any case, are unaware of the locations of specific camps. This frustrates the pilgrims who get upset with the police.

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Don't imagine that it is only the less educated pilgrims from Africa or Asia who get lost. Throughout the day we were approached by Europeans and Arabs as well, who had been walking for hours and still could not locate their groups. The fact is that there are 2.5 million people in a huge crowd and this is a situation that few of the pilgrims have dealt with in the past. It is overwhelming, especially when a pilgrim is exhausted.

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We did find one group trying to do their part to help lost pilgrims. Thirty-five expatriates working for a real estate company in Jeddah had stationed themselves on King Khaled Bridge. Armed with iPhones and iPads, they had loaded maps of Mina into these tablet computers and phones and had some basic idea of the arrangement of the camps. They had set out from Jeddah after the Eid prayer with SR5,000 provided by their Syrian project manager. Paying SR70 for the trip by taxi, they quickly made their way to Mina. With the Standing at Arafat concluded, there was no longer a need for the Haj permit. On King Khaled Bridge by 10 a.m., this group of Bangladeshis, Egyptians, Syrians, Palestinians and Pakistanis looked out for any pilgrim on the bridge who seemed lost and offered assistance, sending them in the right direction. "We are all singles, with our families back home. There is nothing for us to do today except sleep and be unhappy because we are far from our loved ones," said Egyptian Maher Abbas. "Our manager paid for our trip and encouraged us to come here and do something useful. We have been providing this service to the lost pilgrims for the last two years and it is very satisfying. At 9 p.m. we will leave and return to Jeddah, feeling happy that we have done something good today."

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By evening, the mood in Mina had become festive. Rested and showered, the pilgrims had changed from ihram into their native dress. The sidewalk salesmen had put out their wares. Battery operated plastic fans were popular as well as azaan clocks. There was a small crowd clustered around a display of toys. It was a colorful group wearing turbans, taqiyahs and even baseball caps on their shaven heads. They were laughing at the antics of a mechanical monkey and some were buying dolls to take back for their children. With the most difficult parts of the Haj behind them, the pilgrims had begun to think of life beyond the holy sites again.