The genetic diversity of wild rice populations in east and southern Africa is being eroded by the expansion of agricultural activities and over-grazing. Concerted efforts are therefore required to collect and conserve this diversity for future use in crop improvement programmes. Although the reported work has made a significant contribution to this enormous task, many targeted areas were not sampled because of logistical problems, inaccurate timing of collection in some countries, long distances that needed to be covered and insufficient seed because of sterility and small population sizes. These gaps include the Yala swamp and the shores of Lake Victoria in western Kenya, parts of Lake Kyoga and the western districts in Uganda, the Zambezi River valley in Zimbabwe, the Okavango delta in Botswana and the Cunene River valley in Angola. Further sampling is required in most of the countries in order to capture the maximum inter- and intra-specific variability.