TEHRAN – Mohammad Amiri-Roudan, an Iranian traveler and athlete, who has commenced a journey across the globe on camelback, aims to draw worldwide attention to the Iranian Bactrian camel, which he says, is on the verge of extinction.

Based on previous reports, the excursion started on May 23 from a lagoon in Sirik county in southern Hormozgan province.

On Saturday, Amiri-Roudan left Meshgin Shahr, which is located in the northwestern province of Ardebil, for the Republic of Azerbaijan.

He is scheduled to leave the country via the border with Azerbaijan and finally return to the Persian Gulf coast after crossing Europe, Latin America, South America, Africa, Oceania, and Asia, IRNA reported on Saturday.

The journey is estimated to take two-and-a-half years. The athlete enjoys 20 years of the tourism experience. He has swum in various regions from zero to two thousand meters of altitude.

The Bactrian camel, whose name stems from the ancient historical region of Bactria, is a large, even-toed ungulate native to the steppes of Central Asia. The animal has two humps on its back, in contrast to the single-humped dromedary camel. The Bactrian camel is thought to have been domesticated sometime before 2500 BC in Northeast Afghanistan or southwestern Turkestan.

AFM/MG