Alma’s second journey begins early in the tenth year of the reign of the judges (approximately 83 BC). Where his first journey consisted of the single stop in Gideon, this journey will have him travel to two destinations, Melek and Ammonihah. The order of travel between the two is purely geographic, with Melek being the closer, and Ammonihah being further distant.
The geographical relationships of Gideon, Zarahemla, and Melek also explains the reason that Alma returns to Zarahemla prior to traveling to Melek. In Alma 2 we have the war between Zarahemla and the separatist Amlicites which begins on the east side of the Sidon. The Nephite army has been on the east of Sidon during this battle, and when the return to Zarahemla they do so through the valley of Gideon (logically the location of the city Gideon).
This verse tells us that Melek is on the west side of the Sidon. This logically indicates that Alma had to pass by Zarahemla in order to travel from Gideon to Melek. Since Zarahemla was logically somewhere in the path between Gideon and Melek, it makes sense that Alma would return to Zarahemla for a time to attend to duties there before departing again.
Sorenson notes: “Alma traveled “over into” Melek, indicating at least crossing an intervening elevation, thus it lay some distance from the river. The text also indicates that west, not some odd angle, was the primary direction of Alma’s journey: Melek was “on the west by the borders o the wilderness.” (Sorenson, John L. The Geography of Book of Mormon Events; A Source Book. FARMS 1990, p. 248-9).
“This place is implied in the several references to it to be some distance from Zarahemla (Alma 8:3;45:18). On the western edge of the central depression of Chiapas one major settlement area stands out. Called the Frailesca, its name came from the fact that the friars fo the Comnican religious order of the Catholic Church controlled this productive territory in Spanish colonial Days. Near Villa Flores, the heart of the area, is an impressive ruined site now labeled Vera Cruz II. It is the largest settlement in the whole western zone that dates to the late second centry BC when Alma made his journey. (However, the Book of Mormon never mentions any city of Melek, so no large center need be expected.) A primary route directly linked Santa Rosa/Zarahemla with this Frailesca/melek region. The several adjacent valleys that together constitute the western zone would have constituted “all the borders of the land which was by the wilderness side,” whose people flocked together to hear Alma preach (Alma 8:5).” (Sorenson, John L. An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon. FARMS 1985, p. 198).