Mount Moroto Forest Reserve is perched on top of the escarpment of the Eastern Rift Valley, east of Moroto town; its eastern boundaries are also those of the Ugandan border with Kenya. The upper parts of Mount Moroto are forested (totaling 7,000 ha), but the reserve extends a considerable distance into savannas of various types, including Combretum woodlands, as well as bushland and tree/shrub-steppe.

The reserve is relatively rich in savanna birds, with a total of 220 species recorded and concerning Apalis karamojae, there is an old record from the slopes of Mount Moroto, and specimens were collected at the foot of the mountains in 1958 and in the early 1960s. However, its current status is not known. Moroto supports several species not known elsewhere in Uganda and has more in common with similar areas in north-western Kenya than with Uganda. Species such as Eupodotis gindiana, Tockus hemprichii, Mirafra poecilosterna, Tchagra jamesi, Eremomela flavicrissalis, Parus thruppi, Nectarinia hunteri, Emberiza poliopleura and Onychognathus salvadorii are not found in any other Important Bird Area (IBA) or protected area in Uganda. Thirty-two species, including Tricholaema melanocephala and Nectarinia habessinica, are only known in Uganda from this north-eastern area. Four species of the Sudan–Guinea Savanna biome occur.

About 200 tree and shrub species were recorded in Mount Moroto Forest Reserve, 22 of which had not been recorded previously from this floral region.