Kobus leche Shoulder height 90–100cm. Weight 80–100kg.
Red lechwe are sturdy, shaggy antelope with a chestnut-red coat, paler underneath than on top, and beautiful lyre-shaped horns. They need dry land on which to rest, but otherwise are adapted for life in the seasonal floodplains that border lakes and rivers. They will spend much of their time grazing on grasses and sedges, standing in water if necessary. Their hooves are splayed, adapted to bounding through their muddy environment when fleeing from the lion, hyena and wild dog that hunt them, making them the most aquatic of antelope after sitatunga.

Lechwe reach the southern limit of their distribution in the Okavango and Linyanti areas. They are also found in the DRC, Angola, Namibia's Caprivi Strip, and in Zambia, their stronghold. Wherever they occur, the males are generally larger and darker than the females. When conditions are right, they can be found in huge numbers, and they are the most numerous antelope in the shallow-water environments of the Delta.