As government and relief agencies scramble to save human populations from starvation, wildlife authorities said between 60 and 80 hippos have died in the reserve over the past six weeks amid increased drought-related competition for scarce food and water.

"They started dying in mid-December and now we estimate that between 60 and 80 hippos have died up to now," said Michael Koikai, the senior Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) in the Maasai Mara.

"They will continue to die if this drought persists and we will see deaths of other species, notably elephant and buffalo."

He and others said rivers and ponds in the Maasai Mara reserve -- a huge destination for safari-going visitors to Kenya that is known worldwide for the spectacular migration of wildebeests -- were filling up with rotting hippo carcasses as the drought worsens.

"They are floating in rivers," Koikai told AFP. "They died as a result of fighting among themselves and starvation."

The Mara river in the western part of the reserve -- a favorite with wildlife photographers and filmmakers during the migration and the home of several luxury safari camps -- has been hit especially hard, according to guides who work in the area.

"The water level is so low now that it's having a severe effect on the hippo population," said a naturalist at one high-end facility. "As pods meet up, they are fighting and young males have been killing each other. There is also some infanticide going on with older males killing young ones.

"There are a lot of bodies floating by with serious lacerations, which tells me they are fighting," he told AFP.

Joseph Kiprono, a warden with the KWS Problem Animal Management unit, spoke of "dozens of hippos currently dying in rivers" and warned that increasingly desperate wildlife posed a danger to humans in the area.

Last week, the KWS issued an alert for increasing human-wildlife conflict around the country after elephants killed two people earlier this month in Kenya's southeastern Tsavo National Park.

Although elephants are not reported to have killed any humans in the Maasai Mara, Kiprono said that since the New Year, buffalo leaving the reserve to find grazing had killed at least one person and injured four others.

"They are leaving the park in larger numbers," he said.

The naturalist said the departure of buffalo, zebra and other prey due to the drought would have a follow-on impact with the Maasai Mara's world famous population of big cats like lions and cheetahs.

"If we don't get any rain soon, it is going to start taking a toll on the cats," he said. "The lions will definitely suffer as the ungulents move out looking for food, the cheetahs will also suffer and we may have a situation where the hyenas become the chief predator."

The drought has raised dire warnings of imminent famine for more than six million people in Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti.

At least 40 people have died of malnutrition and related illness in Kenya alone since December and some 2.5 million Kenyans are expected to need food aid to survive by the end of February.

Thousands of head of cattle, goats and camels have also died and the drought has raised fears of tribal clashes over water and pasture.

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