The ecoregion lies above 3000 meters elevation, and is divided into two areas: the Rwenzori Mountains on the border of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the volcanic Virunga Mountains to the south, where the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda meet.

Habitat types include lakes, marshy deltas and peat bogs, open montane grasslands, shrublands, enclaves of high elevation forest, snow fields, and glaciers.

Giant rosette plants, including various species of lobelias and senecios, are characteristic of the ecoregion.

[4] The ericaceous vegetation varies in growth habit, in places forming a dense forest of single-trunked trees, thickets of multi-trunked shrubs, or open shrubland reaching only 1 meter high.

Uganda's Rwenzori Mountains National Park protects the Ugandan portion of the Rwenzori moorlands, and Rwanda's Volcans National Park protects the Rwandan portion of the Virunga moorlands.