Giraffes reside in a fission–fusion social system, with sex, age proximity, kinship and home range overlap accounting for some of the variance in herd composition, while season, sex, age and time of day influence diet, home range size and distance travelled. To increase our knowledge of habitat use and fission–fusion herd dynamics, we placed GPS devices on eight adult female South African giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis giraffa) living in the Khamab Kalahari Nature Reserve (South Africa). We tested four predictions about