Puku are obligate grazers, occupying grasslands near permanent water within the savannah woodlands and floodplains of south-central Africa. Although associated with wet areas and swamp vegetation, Puku avoid deep standing water, and in that sense are ecologically distinct from Lechwe (Jenkins 2013). The high population growth rate of Puku has been suggested to explain the rapid recovery of some populations following cessation of unsustainable poaching levels (Goldspink et al. 1998).

The Puku (Kobus vardonii) formerly occurred widely in grasslands near permanent water within the savannah woodlands and floodplains of south-central Africa. It has been eliminated from large parts of its former range and reduced to fragmented, isolated populations, but some of these are still numerous. Large numbers now occur in only two countries, Tanzania and Zambia (East 1999, Jenkins 2013). Populations of Puku still occur in north-east Botswana on the Chobe River floodplain (Dipotso and Skarpe 2006), and they occur as vagrants in the middle Zambezi valley of Zimbabwe and the eastern Caprivi strip of Namibia (Jenkins 2013). In Zambia around 85% of Puku occur in protected areas.

East (1999) estimated that about one-third of the total population survives in protected areas. Besides Kilombero Valley, key areas for the survival of Puku include: Katavi-Rukwa (Tanzania), Kafue NP, North and South Luangwa NPs, Kasanka and Nsumbu-Tondwa-Mweru Wantipa (Zambia). There are smaller populations in Kasungu N.P. (Malawi) and Chobe N.P. in Botswana (East 1999). Around 85% of Puku in Zambia occur in protected areas (Jenkins 2013). Priority actions to conserve Puku across their range were discussed by Jenkins (2013).