It is named after Mount Napak, and its headquarters is at Lokitede.

The district headquarters at Napak are located approximately 80 kilometres (50 mi), by road, southwest of Moroto, the largest town in the sub-region.

[1] This location lies about 340 kilometres (210 mi), by road, northeast of Kampala, the capital of Uganda and the largest city in that country.

Napak District is part of the Karamoja sub-region.

According to the national census of 2002, the sub-reguion was home to an estimated 800,000 people at that time.