Muslim pilgrims circled the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest site, for a final time today, bringing to a close what may have been the largest ever Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, passing without the deadly stampedes that have marred the event in the past.

The hut of thatch walls was as rickety and windblown as any other in Zamzam Camp for refugees on the sand dunes of western Sudan, but dozens of men and boys squeezed inside to watch the TV broadcasts of the World Cup.