Jews from around the world arrived on the Tunisian island of Djerba on Wednesday for an annual pilgrimage to Africa’s oldest synagogue, with organisers expecting a significant jump in participants.

“Visitors have been arriving by the hundreds since Sunday to take advantage of a longer stay on the island, and there will be about 6,000 for the big day,” organiser Perez Trabelsi said of Thursday’s events at the Ghriba shrine.

Due to the fact that there are no direct air links between Israel and Tunisia, the expected 5,000 Jews of Tunisian descent, many of whom now reside in Israel, will make their way to Djerba via Malta, France and Turkey.

The El Ghriba synagogue is located in the former Jewish village of Harah Sghira and, according to one tradition, was established by a group of Kohanim, from the Bais Hamikdash, who supposedly settled on the island immediately after the destruction of the first Bais Hamikdash. (The tradition holds that the refugees brought a door and a stone from the destroyed Bais Hamikdash with them.)

The visitors are arriving amid heavy security, with authorities seeking to prevent an attack similar to the one carried out by a suicide bomber at the site in 2002 that killed 21 people.

Police set up barricades, while an electronic gate filtered visitors entering the area around the sacred site, believed to be 2,500 years old.