Orthetrum machadoi
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
Orthetrum machadoi, common name highland skimmer or Machado's skimmer, is a species of dragonfly in the family Libellulidae. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and possibly Burundi. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, rivers, shrub-dominated wetlands, swamps, freshwater marshes, and intermittent freshwater marshes. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
More parks will be added in future updates.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Highland Skimmer sighting in iSimangaliso Wetland Park on a given day, based on 21 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 92nd most-seen of the 316 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October and December
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Highland Skimmer in iSimangaliso Wetland Park on a given day, against under 5% in March and May–July, the lowest months.
Between 1 and 4 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Highland Skimmer sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only iSimangaliso Wetland Park, in our data
iSimangaliso Wetland Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Highland Skimmer sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same genus: Orthetrum
The closest relatives of the Highland Skimmer that you can see in iSimangaliso Wetland Park (genus Orthetrum) are Julia Skimmer (about 20%), Long Skimmer (about 20%) and Bold Skimmer (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Highland Skimmer is recorded against all the insects logged in iSimangaliso Wetland Park (21 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
