10 • FLYFISHING October 2015

WHEN you tell people you’re going fishing in equa-torial regions they might look at you askance,wondering what species you’re targeting. Whenyou say you’re targeting trout in equatorial

regions they’re sure to think you’ve lost the plot. Who wouldhave thought that trout sit in the gin-clear pools of the high-land rivers and glacier-fed lakes of Kenya and Ethiopia, whenwe most frequently associate those countries with high tem-peratures, the great Rift Valley and tough African conditions. Itseems an altogether too hostile environment for delicatetrout.

HISTORYAt one stage in the early 1950s, Kenya boasted an astonishing2 200km of pristine trout streams and rivers. Our forefathersare to blame for such a rich flyfishing playground. Two of us— Sven and Jamie — grew up fishing in Kenya, learning theart of flyfishing on small intricate streams and lakes surround-ed by Africa’s wilderness. Coming from a long line of colonialimports, we all fished with our fathers and grandfathers and,as young boys, wanted nothing more than to lay our flies infishy spots and hook wily trout, never once wondering howthey got there. As we grew older we learned that it was the

featurefeature

A century of adaptation makes them tough

by Jamie Melvin, Sven Verwiel and Francois Dufour of Iolaus Fishing Travel

British who’d brought these beautiful salmonids to East Africaand it all started as early as 1906.

Jamie was lucky enough to inherit a book from his grand-parents titled Angling In East Africa, written by TL Hately andHugh Copley (1933) which tells the story of when and howtrout made their way to the equator. This book has fed ourdreams all our lives. Here is an extract from it:

“Many years ago, when the Colony was yet a Protectorate,the late Lord Delamere and Major Ewart S Grogan discussedhow the attractions of this land could be brought home to thepeople in the Old Country. They decided that the two thingslikely to appeal were wheat in the fields and trout in therivers. Lord Delamere took the wheat in hand and MajorGrogan handled the trout.

“In 1905 Major Grogan purchased and brought out fromthe Howietown Fisheries a large consignment of ova (browns,Loch Leven and rainbow trout). The Howietown Fisherieslent one of their men, Mr Arnott, for a period of one year tobring the ova out and to establish them in the rivers of the

Colony. Fromrailhead to thestocking place,where the Naivasha-Nyeri track crosses the Gura,high up on the Aberdare range, the troutwere rushed up by the active co-operation of the then inhabi-tants of Naivasha.”

The book does not cover the journey from England toKenya, but it would have been an arduous one for the eyedova. First they would have been shipped across theMediterranean into the Red Sea, then onto the Indian Oceanand eventually they would have been offloaded at Mombasaport. Next they would have then been put onto the steamtrain to Naivasha and Nanyuki and placed in a simple hatch-ery somewhere on the slopes of the Aberdare Range and

FLYFISHING October 2015 • 11

by Jamie Melvin, Sven Verwiel and Francois Dufour of Iolaus Fishing Travel

The biggest waterfall ofthe Gura plunges intothe deepest canyon ofthe Aberdare rangewhere it merges withthe Karuru River.

A beautifully spotted wildbrown trout from one ofMount Kenya’s moorlandstreams.

Mount Kenya.Once hatched they were trekked up by foot and

released into the rivers and lakes. Luckily for us, the meninvolved had the knowledge to ensure the survival of theova on their journey, keeping them cool and moist on ice.We can not even begin to imagine the tribulations of theirjourney which was an incredible achievement for that era.

There are no records of indigenous fish inhabiting thesecold mountain streams and lakes, although that’s not to saythey weren’t there. Once stocked and settled in thesewaters the trout thrived and migrated across the coldwaters of Kenya.

In 1967 five hundred rainbow- and brown trout finger-lings were introduced into the Danka and Web rivers inEthiopia’s Bale Mountains. Two years later it became appar-ent that trout were breeding successfully. This stimulatedthe formation of the Bale Fly Fishing Club. The rainbowsdid so well that some were taken from the Danka and intro-duced into seven other streams. The large size and qualityof the fish attracted many people to join the club and by1973 it had established an international reputation. Theclub was disbanded in 1975, but trout have continued tobreed and are still caught in the Web, Danka and Shaiyarivers.

KENYA TODAY“Those who know the wonderful slopes of Mount Kenya,the Aberdares, the great Mau Escarpment, Elgon andCherangani realise that God has lavished the wonders ofnatural beauty on this land with no off hand. The greatprimeval forests, the abundance of wild flowers, the strangebirds, gorgeous butterflies and the timid, seldom-seen forestfolk all make a strong appeal to the nature lover.

“In addition to these beauties our mountainsides arerichly endowed with rivers and streams.... Man has supple-mented the Creator’s work by introducing trout, bothbrown and rainbow, to these virgin waters and the trouthave responded to man’s initiative and to nature’s munifi-cence by multiplying marvellously and waxing exceedingfat.

“The cool, clear water flowing under towering treeswhich are festooned with creepers with pendant blooms inpink, blue and red; strange and beautiful orchids, giant fernsand the continual play of sun and shadow on trout-stockedpools.” — Extract from Angling In East Africa.

Despite major development in the lowlands of Kenya,the description above still reigns true in the highlands.Descendants of the original brown trout populations are

The upper section of the Web River stillholds the occasional brown trout.

A spotted rainbow from the mountain lakes.

thriving in the moorland streams and rivers and theyhave evolved a phenotype of golden mahogany withblue-ringed red spots and white-lined fins. There’s alsoevidence that rainbow trout are successfully breeding insome of the glacial lakes and can be caught using a vari-ety of flyfishing techniques.

From our consistent observations over the last 15years it seems that equatorial trout are able to spawnyear-round. The main trigger seems to be the onset ofthe rains and rising water levels. Strangely enough, thepineal gland that reads light levels in northern andsouthern hemisphere salmonids does not seem to kick-start the reproductive cycle on the equator due to theconsistency of daylight all year round and the lack ofclearly defined seasons.

Flyfishing in these locations is truly spectacular, andencounters with elephants, buffalo, zebra, bush buckand other game add excitement to every stroll downthe river. This makes every fishing trip to these moun-tains a true adventure.

These remote lakes and rivers can be reached byhelicopter, road, and on foot. Some combination pack-ages allow anglers to trek up to the peaks of the moun-tain, stopping to fish the different rivers and lakes onthe way up, while others prefer to fly into the hot spotsand see the mountains from the air.

ETHIOPIA TODAYThe trout fishing remains special in Ethiopia’s BaleMountains with plenty of big fish to be caught and lotsof dry flyfishing opportunities. The landscape is spec-tacular — wheat fields, jagged gorges and dry afro-alpine forests to the north with lush green bamboo andforest covering the slopes to the south. The rainbowtrout are prolific and, on average, much bigger than inthe Kenyan rivers, with several specimens over the 6 lbmark having been landed. Very few brown trout are leftin the area, but the persistent angler may still be reward-ed with a rare catch.

The number of endemic species in this region is out-standing, including birds, mammals, reptiles and amphib-ians. Some of the more notable sightings are ofCooper’s grassland frog, the Ethiopian banana frog, blue-winged goose, yellow-fronted parrot, black-headedsiskin, black-clawed mouse, Bale shrew, Menelick’s bush-buck, and the Ethiopian wolf — the rarest carnivore onthe planet. Seeing one of these endemics while flyfish-ing is a truly magical moment.

Lake Alice rainbow trout. Aberdare brown trout.

Ethiopia’s beautiful Web Valley where trout were first introduced inthe 1960s.

This pool on the Web River was full of rainbow trout.

Here is a snippet of a short storyabout our first tr ip to Ethiopia inJanuary 2014:

After arriving in Addis Ababa wetravelled through to Dodola where wemet up with a couple of mountainguides who put us in touch with a localguide. We shared a few cups of deli-cious coffee, a long conversation aboutthe trout in the area and a few StGeorge beers before we set off to pitchour tent next to an Ethiopian river fullof trout. It was already late in the after-noon, so we quickly set up our rods andran to get a few casts in before theorange sun slipped away behind themountains. We split up and were sooneach rewarded with two beautiful rain-bows. What a start!

We carried on heading east toDinsho where we met up with ourlocal contact. Gashte, as we soondubbed him, became our godfather,guide and fishing buddy for the rest ofour time in the mountains. He showedus around and shared stories abouttrout, Ethiopian traditions and politics.We came to have a deep respect for hiskind nature and emotional connectionto the river and the graceful art of fly-fishing. These encounters are whatmakes flyfishing in Africa amazing.

On our third night we camped onthe golden cliff face of the jagged gorgewhich holds the Web River. Mountainnyala worked their way along the ridge,baboons peered down and warthogswandered the riverbanks, shyly avoidingus while we fished beneath waterfallsand into slow moving pools. The abun-dance, health and size of the fish wassuch a pleasure to see and we had twofantastic days fishing in the gorge.

On our last evening we stumbledupon a long pool where there musthave been 30 fish rising in the sunset’spink reflection. The ripples joined as ifraindrops were falling from the trout’sattack on the midge hatch. That wasprobably one of the most perfect andenjoyable evenings we’d had on a riverin our 20 years of flyfishing. Gashtetook the lead and showed us how itwas done. He truly was a fantastic fly-fisherman, totally at peace with a fly-rodin his hand and has become our localguide on our Bale Mountains trips.

Kenya and Ethiopia and their equa-torial trout hold a very special place inour hearts and display African tenacityin the way they have managed to settlein and adapt. The best time to fish fortrout in Kenya is between July andOctober and again from Januarythrough to late March. Fishing in theBale Mountains is best betweenNovember and early April.

•For further information on fishingthese equatorial regions contact theauthors via email on <info@iolaus.biz>or visit <www.iolaus.biz>.

14 • FLYFISHING October 2015