The Nkulengu Rail walks through dense vegetation beside streams in lowland rainforest.
Its upperparts are olive-brown with dark feather centers and pale edges. The throat is brownish white, the legs red and the bill green in Hartlaub's original description.
It is diurnal and terrestrial, using dense vegetation along streams in lowland rainforest. Its diet is classified as omnivorous.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.