In general, animals have been reported from dry and moist savanna, and mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation. It seems possible that the species is also found in tropical moist forest in Liberia and the Virunga National Park (the Democratic Republic of the Congo), however, this needs confirmation. The species roosts in caves and abandoned mines. It appears to prefer larger caves that are relatively undisturbed, usually ones that contain large pools of water (Herselman and Norton, 1985).

This species has been patchily recorded in sub-Saharan Africa. In West Africa the species has currently only been reported from the northwestern uplands of Liberia (Koopman 1995), while in Central Africa it is known only from a few records in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda (Hayman et al. 1966; Baeten et al. 1984). The species is much more widely recorded in East Africa, ranging from Ethiopia in the north, through Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe through to southern South Africa.

It has been recorded from the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Baeten et al. 1984) and in view of its East African range, it seems likely that it is present in additional protected areas. Further studies are needed into the range of this species in West and Central Africa.