While this resident of Africa's permanent swamps occurs widely in sub-Saharan Africa, it only enters southern Africa in the Okavango River and Swamps, and in the Kwando and Chobe rivers of Namibia, at a mean reporting rate of 4%. It favours dense papyrus and reed swamps where it is shy and elusive, and is best located by its song. This indicates that it may be overlooked and more common than the 3,600 km2 area of occupancy and low reporting rate suggest. It has been recorded from the Shamvura area on the Okavango since 2006 and it is likely to occur along the length of the Okavango in Namibia in mature and undisturbed reed beds.