Xylocopa caffra
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
Xylocopa caffra is a species of Afrotropical carpenter bee that ranges from west to central and southern Africa, besides Madagascar and some Indian Ocean archipelagos. The females are black with two white or yellow bands over the hind thorax and first abdominal segment respectively, while the males are uniform greenish yellow in colour. Females with white bands are associated with dry climatic conditions during larval development, but females of either colour, or colour grade, may emerge from the same brood. In the Western Cape all have yellow bands however. A form with orange-red bands occurs in East Africa.
The species is at home in various habitat types, from moist coastal settings to dry savannah. The territorial males patrol small areas around particular plants or flowers. The females are solitary nesters in Aloe or Agave stems, tree branches or timber. The nests are partitioned into various cells, separated by walls of glued wood residue. A wide variety of plants are used as sources of nectar and pollen.
As with other carpenter bees, the larvae are fed a mixture of pollen and nectar. The females have a mutualistic association with phoretic mites... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Table Mountain National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Namib-Naukluft National Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia | |
| 3 | Addo Elephant National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 4 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 5 | Garden Route National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Addis Ababa | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | |
| 2 | Johannesburg | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Pretoria | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 4 | Cape Town | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 5 | Nairobi | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 6 | Durban | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Double-Banded Carpenter Bee sighting in Namib-Naukluft National Park on a given day, based on 9 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 36th most-seen of the 60 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.
February and August
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Double-Banded Carpenter Bee in Namib-Naukluft National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January, July and September–November, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Double-Banded Carpenter Bee sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 5 parks where we can rate Double-Banded Carpenter Bee sightings, Namib-Naukluft National Park ranks 2nd at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Table Mountain National Park (South Africa, about 10%).
Same order: Hymenoptera
The closest relatives of the Double-Banded Carpenter Bee that you can see in Namib-Naukluft National Park (order Hymenoptera, Ants, Bees, Wasps, and Sawflies) are Namib Desert Dune Ant (about 40%), Karoo Balbyter Ant (about 20%) and Black Mud Wasp (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Double-Banded Carpenter Bee is recorded against all the insects logged in Namib-Naukluft National Park (9 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.
