Of the seven recognized subspecies of hartebeest, the red, or Cape, hartebeest (or Khama) is the southernmost race and is now largely restricted to Botswana and Namibia, having once occurred over much of southern Africa. Bostwana lost as much as 70% of its hartebeest population in the late 1980's due to drought and fencing of habitats. Extensive reintroduction of the red hartebeest onto private farms has taken place, with large numbers of the subspecies still surviving.

The kongoni is a subspecies of southern Kenya and northern Tanzania

The bubal or northern hartebeest (A.b.buselaphus) of north of Africa slipped unnoticed into extinction in the early years of this century. The Tora hartebeest (A.b.tora) and Swayne's hartebeest (A.b.swaynei) of Ethiopia are classed as Endangered.

The hartebeest as a whole seems to suffer from cattle-keeping and droughts to a considerable extent. Should conditions improve, however, the numbers recover quite rapidly.