Trachylepis quinquetaeniata
Silhouette: David Orr · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
The African five-lined skink (Trachylepis quinquetaeniata, formerly Mabuya quinquetaeniata), or rainbow mabuya, is a north-central African species of skink lizard. T. margaritifera is another closely related skink species that is also called the "rainbow skink" (although it occurs primarily in Eastern Africa); T. margaritifera, overall, possesses more colourful, "rainbow"-like scales (as opposed to the predominantly blue, black and yellowish five-lined skink, T. quinquetaeniata).
The African five-lined skink has two subspecies: Trachylepis quinquetaeniata quinquetaeniata (Lichtenstein, 1823) Trachylepis quinquetaeniata riggenbachi (Sternfeld, 1910) Trachylepis margaritifera, formerly treated as a subspecies of T. quinquetaeniata, was elevated to full species status in 1998.
Trachylepis quinquetaeniata is a smaller- to medium-sized lizard, maturing to a length of about 20 centimetres (7.9 in). The colour of this skink is quite variable, depending on the lizard's gender, its age and the time of the year. As with most skinks, its scales are glossy, shiny, and the body is rather smooth to the touch, with a 'metallic', reflective quality. The base scale... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Awash National Park | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | |
| 2 | Samburu National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 3 | Kidepo Valley National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 4 | Murchison Falls National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luxor | 🇪🇬 Egypt | |
| 2 | Ouagadougou | 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso | |
| 3 | Cairo | 🇪🇬 Egypt |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report an African Five-lined Skink sighting in Murchison Falls National Park on a given day, based on 5 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 8th most-seen of the 8 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November
In that month about 50% of wildlife watchers report an African Five-lined Skink in Murchison Falls National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April–July, September–October and December–January, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most African Five-lined Skink sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 4
Of the 4 parks where we can rate African Five-lined Skink sightings, Murchison Falls National Park ranks 4th at about 20%. The best odds are in Awash National Park (Ethiopia, about 50%), Samburu National Reserve (Kenya, about 50%) and Kidepo Valley National Park (Uganda, about 50%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the African Five-lined Skink is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Murchison Falls National Park (5 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.
