The species occurs in central Africa, from Mozambique north of the Zambezi River; highlands associated with the Rift Valley system in Malawi, Zambia and Tanzania; western Uganda; south-eastern Tanzania; and Democratic Republic of Congo between the Congo and Ubangi Rivers (Corbet and Hanks 1968; Kingdon 1974). In some generalized distribution maps R. cirnei is shown to occur in extreme southern Central African Republic, based on a single individual reputed to have been collected between Bangui and Mbaiki west of the Ubangi River; this would be the only record west of the Ubangi River and unless confirmed, this does not seem likely (Corbet and Hanks 1968).