This rare nocturnal denizen of grassy floodplains and wetlands is separated into two subspecies in southern Africa: C. n. natalensis, which is endemic to southern Mozambique and the eastern coast of South Africa in KwaZulu-Natal, and the more widespread C. n. carpi, which is found south of the Sahara in localised pocket. In Namibia, the latter subspecies has been recorded patchily from the Okavango, Kwando, and particularly the Chobe and Zambezi rivers. It is also found patchily in the Okavango Delta.