Okapi are limited to closed, high canopy forests between about 450 m asl and 1,500 m asl and they occur in a wide range of primary and older secondary forest types. They do not extend into gallery forests or the forest-savannah ecotone and do not persist in disturbed habitats surrounding larger settlements. Okapi will use seasonally inundated areas when the substrate is still wet, but they do not occur in truly inundated sites or extensive swamp forest. Tree fall gaps are selected as foraging sites for Okapi during the early stages of regeneration (Hart 2013). Okapi are unique in being the only species of forest ungulate to depend on understorey foliage and they are known to feed on over 100 species. They are mainly diurnal but have also been recorded feeding at night (Nixon and Lusenge 2008). Okapi have defined but non-exclusive home ranges, averaging 3-5 km² for adult females and up to 13 km² for adult males. Okapi are mainly solitary (Hart 2013). Generation length is broadly estimated at around eight years, based on calculations made for the global captive population (S. Hofman and K. Leus pers. comm. 2013).

Okapi distribution extends across parts of central, northern and eastern DR Congo. North and east of the Congo River, Okapi range from Maiko Forest north to the Ituri Forest, then west through the Rubi, Tele and Ebola river basins, extending north towards the Ubangi River. Okapi have a much smaller range to the west and south of the Congo River, extending from the west bank of the Lomami River west to the upper Lomela and Tshuapa basins (Hart 2013). In the fairly recent past, Okapi occurred occasionally in the adjoining Semliki forest of western Uganda (Kingdon 1979).

Recorded presence is concentrated in and around protected areas, mainly reflecting survey effort. The remoteness and inaccessibility of much Okapi habitat make field work logistically difficult, and insecurity in DRC over the past two decades has further restricted survey activity. As a consequence, extensive parts of potential Okapi range are poorly studied. Furthermore, Okapi are secretive and their occurrence can easily go undetected, especially at low densities.

The known strongholds of the Okapi are the Ituri and Maiko landscapes, the forests of the upper Lindi, Maiko and Tshopo basins and the Rubi-Tele region in Bas Uele (Hart 2013). There are confirmed recent (2013) records of Okapi in the Abumonbanzi Reserve in Gbadolite district of North Ubangi at the northwest end of the distribution (Ngbolua et al. 2014).

Since 1980, expansion of human settlement, deforestation and forest degradation have eliminated important portions of the Okapi range, in particular in the southern and eastern Ituri Forest where the species was at one time abundant (Hart 2013).

The extent of occurrence (EOO) is 383,190 km², but this includes unsuitable habitat such as degraded forest, swamp forest and urban areas. Excluding all these gives in an area of 244,405 km² for the suitable or hypothesised range (Kümpel et al. 2015). The area of occupancy (AOO) is 14,112 km², based on a grid of 5.6 x 5.6 km, the size used by most reported surveys and 450 (3.5%) of 12,764 grid squares with confirmed presence Kümpel et al. (2015). The AOO figure is however considered likely to be a substantial underestimate, surveys have been conducted in only 1,994 (15.6%) out of 12,764 grid squares so far.

This species is not included in the CITES Appendices. The Okapi is a fully protected species under Congolese law and the species is a national symbol, appearing on the insignia of the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN) and on Congolese banknotes.

The RFO (14,000 km²) and Maiko National Park (10,800 km²) support significant populations, but numbers in both sites have declined owing to the threats listed above. Strengthening protection of these two protected areas is the single most important means to ensure long-term survival of Okapi (East 1999, Hart 2013). A small population of Okapi still occurs in the Watalinga Forest (1,100 km²) in the northern sector of Virunga National Park, but currently receives no protection due to the presence of armed groups, though a new forest corridor project connecting Watalinga to the Mt Hoyo Reserve (200 km²), where Okapi have also been recorded, is due to start in 2015. Okapi occur in Rubi-Tele Hunting Reserve (c. 9,000 km²), though its precise legal status is unclear, in Abumonbanzi Reserve in the far west of the range, and on the west bank of the Congo River, where the proposed Lomami National Park within the Tshuapa-Lomami-Lualaba landscape (9,500 km²) is undergoing the process of official gazettement (Kümpel et al. 2015). A number of community reserves are located around Maiko National Park.

Many captive Okapi are held in international collections. In November 2011, representatives of the North American and European captive populations, including the Okapi Species Survival Plan (SSP) and the Okapi European Endangered Species Programme (EEP), met to discuss the role of the captive population in Okapi conservation and agreed to maintain a sustainable, cooperatively managed global ex situ Okapi population that contributes to a viable in situ population (Petric 2012). The zoo community is a major supporter of Okapi conservation work, in 2010 donating USD 225,000 to the Okapi Conservation Project, 33% of its budget (Gilman International Conservation, 2010).

ICCN is the government agency responsible for protected area management but is under-staffed and under-funded. The Okapi Conservation Project was established in 1987 and works within the RFO to protect Okapi and their habitat, as well as the culture of the indigenous Mbuti pygmies. Project activities include capacity building, agroforestry and community support (Gilman International Conservation 2010). The Wildlife Conservation Society started field surveys and research on Okapi in RFO and elsewhere in DRC in the 1980s. Several other international NGOs have also conducted Okapi-related work in DRC, including Fauna & Flora International, Frankfurt Zoological Society, the Lukuru Foundation, and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). The first-ever species-wide Okapi conservation strategy was developed at a workshop held in DRC in May 2013 that was organised by ZSL in partnership with ICCN (Kümpel et al. 2015). In March 2013 a new IUCN SSC Giraffe and Okapi Specialist Group was established, co-hosted by ZSL, with the aim of coordinating research and conservation on both giraffid species and supporting implementation of the Okapi conservation strategy.