The species occurs in forested and well-wooded areas. In South Africa, it occurs in Afromontane forests and thickets of the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces (Lawes et al. 2000). At the western coastal limit occurs in milkwood-dominated coastal forests (Gaylard 1994), while further north in central Mozambique it occurs in lowland evergreen forests and in the evergreen riverine forests of the Save River (Smithers and Lobao-Tello 1976). In East Africa, in the Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area, Serengeti National Park and Maasai Mara Game Reserve, they are found in fig trees and in the riverine forests (H. Hoeck pers. comm.); on Mount Kenya and vicinity as well as the Aberdares Range the species occupies mid-montane forest and riverine forest. Occurs in drier Acacia woodland and in rocky alpine and sub-alpine habitats. Throughout their range, dependent on tree cavities, epiphytes or dense matted forest vegetation for shelter. A decrease in numbers in southern Africa has been attributed to loss of structure within habitat, rather than forest size (Castley and Kerley 1993). The biology and life-history of the species is summarized by Milner and Gaylard (2013).

Patchily distributed in forested areas of central and eastern mainland Africa, from central Kenya (known northern limit is Nyambene Hills; T. Butynski and Y. De Jong pers. comm.) southwards through SW Kenya, southern Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Malawi, southern and extreme eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), northeast Angola, Zambia, and as far south as the Zambezi River in Mozambique. A confined population is supported south of the Zambezi River, Mozambique, and in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces of South Africa. Not recorded from Botswana, Zimbabwe or the Limpopo Province of South Africa (Milner and Gaylard 2013).

The species is present in many large protected areas across its range, including Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area, Mount Kilimanjaro National Park, Mount Meru, Mahale Mountains National Park (Tanzania), Mount Kenya National Park and Forest Reserves, Aberdares National Park and Forest Reserves, Kakamega Forest National Reserve, Masai Mara National Reserve (Kenya), Virunga National Park (DRC), Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, Rwenzori Mountains National Park, Kibale National Park (Uganda), Volcanoes National Park, Nyungwe Forest National Park (Rwanda).