Oribi inhabit savanna woodlands, floodplains and other open grasslands, from around sea level to about 2,000 m asl. They reach their highest density on floodplains and moist tropical grasslands, especially in association with large grazers.

The Oribi has a patchy distribution ranging from Senegal to Ethiopia and Eritrea and south through eastern Africa to Angola and the Eastern Cape of South Africa (East 1999, Brashares and Arcese 2013). It still occurs widely within its former distribution but its populations are becoming increasingly fragmented as it is gradually eliminated from moderately to densely settled areas. They are probably extinct in Burundi (East 1999).

Haggard’s Oribi is entirely isolated from other forms in and occurs in coastal Kenya to southern Somalia (Hillman et al. 1998, East 1999).

The Kenya Oribi formerly occurred on the lower slopes of Mount Kenya but is now extinct (Hillman et al. 1998, East 1999).

Its distribution and abundance are increasingly centred on protected areas (about half the total population occurs in and around protected areas) and some other areas where human population densities are very low, such as Niokolo-Koba (Senegal), Comoe (Ivory Coast), Arly-Singou and Nazinga (Burkina Faso), Mole and Bui (Ghana), Pendjari (Benin), eastern Salamat (Chad), Bouba Ndjida, Benoue, Faro and adjoining hunting zones (Cameroon), Manovo-Gounda-St. Floris, and adjoining hunting zones (Central African Republic), Garamba, Upemba and Kundelungu (Congo-Kinshasa), Omo (Ethiopia), Murchison Falls, Lake Mburo and Kidepo Valley (Uganda), Masai Mara and Ruma (Kenya), Serengeti (Tanzania), Kafue, Bangweulu and Liuwa Plain (Zambia) and Golden Gate Highlands N.P. (South Africa). Surveys in the dry season in South Sudan have shown Oribis to be surviving in much reduced numbers in Boma and Southern National Parks (Fay et al. 2007).

Haggard’s Oribi occurs in Boni and Dodori National Reserves in Kenya, but there is no recent information available on its status.