JEDDAH: The first edition of the Darb Zubaida (or Zubaida Trail) festival has been launched in Hail under the patronage of Hail Gov. Prince Abdul Aziz bin Saad bin Abdul Aziz, who is also the chairman of the region’s Tourism Development Council. The event is underway in Hail’s historic city of Faid. The first edition of the festival includes a number of activities like a camel march, cultural and scientific forums, calligraphy and photography exhibitions etc. The festival aims to revive the historic Darb Zubaida as a pathway for pilgrims and commercial convoys departing from Kufa in Iraq to Makkah. Zubaida Trail, or Al-Kufi pilgrimage route, runs from Kufa in Iraq to Makkah, passing through the north of the Kingdom and its center. It stretches more than 1,400 km in the Kingdom and passes through the following five areas: Northern Border Region, Hail, Al-Qassim, Madinah and Makkah. The trail was listed among the projects of the Two Holy Mosques program to care for the Kingdom’s cultural heritage, executed by the SCTH among its initiatives in the National Transformation Program.