In the past, the Giant Eland probably occurred throughout the relatively narrow belt of savanna woodland which extends across West and Central Africa from Senegal to the Nile. The gap in its recent distribution between Mali and eastern Nigeria contains extensive areas of apparently suitable habitat (East 1999).

The Western Giant Eland has been formerly reported from Senegal to Togo, though its occurrence in Togo might have been a mistaken confusion with Bongo Tragalephaus eurycerus (Grubb et al. 1998). The subspecies still occurs in southeastern Senegal, the far north of Guinea, probably south-western Mali and possibly eastern Guinea-Bissau (East 1999; Darroze 2004; Planton and Michaux in press).

Eastern Giant Elands occur in the central African region, and were formerly distributed from north-eastern Nigeria to north-west Uganda. They now survive mainly in north-east Central African Republic. A separate population lives in northern Cameroon, with herds crossing the Chad border to the east; occasional vagrants may enter Nigerian territory. They may still occur in south-western Sudan, from which they may visit north-eastern DR Congo and north-west Uganda (East 1999; Planton and Michaux in press).