Looks like quite a trip! Thanks for sharing it with all of us.

OK, I have come to this very late, but will be going to Ethiopia March-April.
Not sure if the OP is still on this forum, but would love any detail of what flies worked best.
And, were waders really necessary? The streams look pretty small, but it is clearly cold for wet wading!

You know...I'm just a dumb 37 year veteran, but there is a war on in Yemen, we are flying drone strikes out of neighboring Djibouti, and Somalia next door is a dumpster fire. Not sure I'd go out of my way to fish in Ethiopia. All of that hostility has escalated since the OP told his story.

Years ago, as we flew missions into Bosnia, I was struck by the beauty of what were certainly trout-capable streams around Sarajevo...you'd just have to avoid the land mines and get out of the way as the dead bodies floated down the river. Similarly, the headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates looked like great places to fish except for the fighting and terrorism between the Turks and the Kurds as the streams flowed out of Turkey into Northern Iraq. Lastly, I would have loved to taken a fly rod into the pristine waters of Jammu and Kashmir except you are likely to get shot by either the Pakistanis or the Indian Army.

Don't need any extra excitement when I go fly fishing, thanks. I'd think real hard about what risks you are willing to take to catch and release a few fish. Best wishes.

I love the idea of fishing these remote, dangerous areas where no one has thrown a fly or very rarely anyway! Like the Korean DMZ or mountain trout streams of northern Afghanistan. There’s a world of adventure out there it’s just a pity humans constantly want to destroy each other.

I am also a 30+ year veteran, and have spent “some time in the region”. Always a risk of “big hand, small map”: Ethiopia is (roughly) 1000x700 miles in size, so far larger than almost any European country, predominantly Christian, with a rapidly-liberalising economy and a President who has just won the Nobel Peace Prize. Looks like an utterly fascinating place to visit, and the sort of country that deserves support. And its got trout in beautiful mountains: that does it for me!

But, to return to my original question: does anyone have any info on flies that worked, and whether waders are strictly necessary?

I am going to take an 8’ #6 Hardy Jet and a 7’ #4 Maxcatch S-glass, and will report back.

I'm glad this thread was bumped, I would've missed it. I lived in Ethiopia as a kid. We actually went to Bale National Park once, and I remember my dad (a trout fisherman) whipping around in his seat to take a closer look at a guy walking along the road with a big stringer of fish. "Were those rainbow trout??" I guess they were, and it only took about 25 years to confirm.

I highly recommend going to Ethiopia, and I wouldn't be concerned about safety. Despite being geographically near Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, and Eritrea, Ethiopia is a totally different situation, as Sash pointed out. You'll have a great time.

Sorry I don't have any gear intel to share. But I do recommend you put in the effort to learn a few pleasantries in Amharic. If you can get through some greetings and goodbyes - even if you butcher it - people will really appreciate the effort!

Actually, I see that your original question on waders might be related to whether it'll be too cold for wet wading. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say yes, the temperature in Bale will be too cold for wet wading. I don't think you'll encounter 90F daytime temperatures, which is what I would want for being in the water without waders all day. Much of Ethiopia, Bale included, is at 5,000-10,000 feet elevation. Even though the country is close to the equator, the elevation makes for very moderate temperatures (think 50-80 degrees fahrenheit) and even frosty/foggy conditions at times.