The African darter is found throughout sub-Saharan Africa wherever large bodies of water occur; overall the species remains widespread and common [REF].
One subspecies, the Levant darter (Anhinga rufa chantrei), occurred at Lake Amik (Amik Gölü) in south-central Turkey, in Hula valley lake and marshes in northern Israel and in the Mesopotamian Marshes of the lower Euphrat and Tigris rivers in southern Iraq.