The Otze Forest Wildlife Sanctuary is a government-managed wildlife sanctuary in Uganda. The site covers 0.39 km². The sanctuary is found 18km northeast of Moyo Town and covers an area of 188km2 with an altitudinal range of 7601, 667m. The forest is located on an escarpment overlooking the White Nile as it flows northward, and is bounded to the northeast by the international border with Sudan.
Surveys have recorded 261 tree species and show that the reserve comprises 8% bush land grassland, and 52% forest/woodland. Otze has been identified as one of Uganda’s Important Bird Areas with 168 bird species recorded. Of particular interest is the fox kestrel (recorded elsewhere in Uganda only in Kidepo Valley National Park), one of 14 of the 22 Sudan–Guinea savanna biome species found in Uganda.
The others are the white-crested turaco, red-throated bee-eater; Uganda spotted woodpecker, Emin’s shrike, the red pate and foxy Cisticola, chestnut-crowned sparrow weaver, black-bellied fire finch, brown-rumped bunting, black-rumped wax bill, bronze-tailed glossy starling, purple glossy starling, and the piacpiac. This total is matched in a Uganda protected area by the far larger Murchison Falls National Park and exceeded only in Kidepo (16) and Mount Kei Forest Reserve (15) north of Kiboko. A population of chimpanzees was recorded in the reserve during the 1995 Forest Department survey but their present status is unclear.
