28/08/2026
Overlander Shot in Ethiopia!!!
Charles Write, Charles World Travel. One of the first overlanders inducted into our Ridiculous Road Trips Hall of Fame after driving his Toyota 1 litre Yaris all the way from Germany to Cape Town down the West coast of Africa, has continued up the east and found what he describes as the absolute best of Africa in East Africa - Kenya being his favourite.
Charles is proving that overlanding can be done without an expensive rigged out 4x4, you just need whatever you can afford and for him, that’s in his Yaris on a trip he began purely to get it out of Germany as his MOT was due for renewal.
Chaz is a legend, he refuses to pay bribes and has exposed a number of corrupt officials in Malawe and other locations, often camping out for days before they let him go without the bribe paid, camping at borders lead to tongue and cheek name - Border Petrol!!!
Then came Ethiopia, he was warned but figured, how bad can it be and I would have done the same. Well he found out how bad it is and because of him, now we all know - don’t go there!!!!
At an unmarked customs stop point, Chaz never noticed the cops trying to stop him until they ran out from behind a bush just in front of him and it was too late, before he could even realise what he had driven past, they shot him with an AK47. Luckily the hit was a ricochet bullet that first hit the road, so by the time it went through the bottom of the Yaris, it had lost a lot of momentum and lodged hard in the back of his foot, instead of taking his foot right off.. Another took out one of the back tires, possibly what they were going for.
After the police let him go, Charles drove 500km with the bullet in his foot before get it taken out in an African hospital where half way through the operation, the power went off and the doctor continued in the dark.
This is sad. Ethiopia has supposedly poored billions into tourism over the last few years, their airline is pretty good as is the airport in Addis Ababa but clearly the country does not actually welcome tourism. Charles describes the whole experience in Ethiopia as Hell on Earth, he was arrested twice for stupid stuff and then the shooting. The people are hungry and thirsty, yet civil war continue in parts of the country. I hold onto hope that the country will settle down soon and the western overlanding route across Africa will be opened again but for now, don’t go there, the risk is not worth it.
Charles managed to return to Kenya, again with problems at the border on the Ethiopian side, he is resting and recovering back in the Uk but will be back for more ridiculous road tripping soon - still in his Yaris. Give him a follow if you haven’t yet for raw, unstagged, ridiculously good content - EPIC.
