Southern Lechwe are associated with wetlands, preferring the shallow water margins of floodplains and swamps (less than 1 m deep), although they may occasionally swim across deep-water areas. They typically frequent light woodlands and termitaria grasslands on the periphery of seasonally inundated floodplains, floodplain grasslands and water-meadows, shallow water meadows around permanently inundated swamps and lagoons, and occasionally papyrus and reed beds of deep-water swamps (Jeffery and Nefdt 2013). Southern Lechwe are grazers, feeding mainly on floodplain and aquatic grasses. Nefdt (1996) discusses an instance in which Lechwe adapted their reproductive behaviour to changes in ecology including those induced by human activities.

Southern Lechwe has a discontinuous distribution in major wetlands in Botswana, Namibia, Angola and Zambia, and south-east DR Congo. Present distribution is similar to the historical distribution, except that range has contracted, particularly over the last century (East 1999, Jeffery and Nefdt 2013). The five subspecies have separate ranges (East 1999, Jeffery and Nefdt 2013):

• Kafue Lechwe (K. l. kafuensis) occurs in the Kafue Flats, central Zambia.
• Black Lechwe (K. l. smithemani) is distributed in the southern half of the Bangweulu Swamps of northern Zambia. Formerly also on the Chambeshi floodplains along the upper Luapula floodplain between Zambia and south-eastern DRC, but it is unlikely to survive there.
• Red Lechwe (K. l. leche) is found in the Okavango Delta, and the Kwando/Linyanti/Chobe system of northern Botswana; the Okavango, Kwando/Linyanti/Chobe, Mashi, and Zambezi River systems of north-east Namibia; and the upper Zambezi and middle Kafue of Zambia; the Cuando system of SE Angola and the Cuanza and Luando Rivers of Central Angola.
• Upemba Lechwe (K. l. anselli) is restricted to the Upemba wetlands, Kamalondo depression, in Katanga Province of south-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (Cotterill 2005).
• The extinct Robert’s Lechwe (K. l. robertsi) was reportedly restricted to within the Luongo and Kalungwishi drainage systems of the lower Luapula region of north-east Zambia.

Red Lechwe occur in the Moremi G.R. and Chobe N.P. (Botswana), Sioma Ngwezi, Liuwa Plains and Kafue National Parks, and the West Zambezi and Kasonso-Busanga Game Management Areas (Zambia), Kameia N.P. and the Luando, Mavinga and Luiana Game Reserves (Angola), and the Western Caprivi G.R. and the Mahango Game Park (Namibia) (Jeffery and Nefdt 2013). Kafue Lechwe occur only in Lochinvar and Blue Lagoon National Parks, both Ramsar sites, and the Kafue Flats Game Management Area in Zambia (Jeffery and Nefdt 2013). Black Lechwe occur only in the Bangweulu Game Management Area and the Kalasa-Mukoso Game Management Area, while the Upemba National Park is the only known protected area refuge for the Upemba Lechwe (Jeffery and Nefdt 2013).

The long-term survival of the lechwe in the wild is totally dependent on the effective protection and management of its remaining populations and their wetland habitats in a few critical areas, in particular Bangweulu (Black Lechwe), Kafue Flats (Kafue Lechwe), Okavango, Linyanti, Busanga and Caprivi (Red Lechwe), and Upemba N.P. (Upemba Lechwe). A significant proportion of the species’ total numbers occurs outside national parks and game reserves (>80% for the Red Lechwe). It is possible that revenue generation through sustainable offtake by sport hunters and sustainable harvesting to provide meat for local people may play a role in the conservation of lechwe populations (East 1999).

Populations of Southern Lechwe are maintained in captivity in European and North American zoos and others are present on Texas ranches (East 1999).

Listed in CITES Appendix II.