Southern Reedbucks occupy floodplain and drainage-line grasslands in savanna woodlands. The most significant habitats in South Africa are valleys in which the grass cover is tall (or there is suitable herbaceous cover) and permanent water is available and they prefer grass islands and avoid woody vegetation (Jungius 1971). Southern Reedbucks range to 1,800-2,000 m in the Drakensberg mountains of South Africa (Rowe-Rowe 1994). They are predominantly fresh grass grazers, but will occasionally take small quantities of herbs, and in some areas may even browse extensively (Jungius 1971). The species overlaps with Bohor Reedbuck in southern Tanzania.

The Southern Reedbuck (Redunca arundinum) occurs from the extreme south of Gabon in the west to Tanzania and then south to South Africa (East 1999, Kingdon and Hoffmann 2013). The species remains widespread in protected areas and other sites with low to moderate levels of settlement, including significant populations on private land in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Namibia. Southern Reedbuck formerly occurred locally in the savannas of southern Republic of Congo, where its presence was last confirmed in 1974 in Mount Fouari Faunal Reserve but it may now be extinct as a result of intensive hunting (East 1999). In Namibia the species occurs naturally in the north-east but has been introduced to private land outside its natural range in the northern farming districts, where it is now relatively numerous (East 1999, Kingdon and Hoffmann 2013). Lynch and Watson (1990) sighted one individual in Sehlabathebe N.P. in Lesotho, but this may have been a vagrant from KwaZulu-Natal. Southern Reedbuck formerly occurred across most of Angola but now survive only locally (Kingdon and Hoffmann 2013).

About 60% of this estimated total occurs in protected areas and 13% on private land. Major populations occur in areas such as Selous (Tanzania), Kafue (Zambia), Nyika (Malawi), Gorongosa (Mozambique), Okavango (Botswana) and Kruger and Eastern Shores (South Africa) (East 1999).