Red rock rats are widely distributed across southern Africa, although the exact southern edge of their range is difficult to determine because of their extreme physical similarity to Tete veld rats, which are found in South Africa and Swaziland. Nonetheless, red rock rats are currently believed to live in east Africa from southern Kenya, through eastern Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe to the north-eastern border regions of South Africa. Further west, they are found through most of Zambia and Botswana to northern Namibia and south-western Angola.