And the Nairobi-based David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust reports that recently it has been bringing an average of seven baby elephants a month to its orphanage. Normally the facility receives seven elephants in a year.
Crops and Cattle
The drought has exacerbated a long-standing conflict between wildlife and the people who live near Kenya's protected lands.
Crop harvests were already expected to be low, because post-election violence in early 2008 prevented many farmers from planting in time.
The United Nations recently estimated that a million people in Kenya are under threat of famine.
(Related: "Kenya's Poor Hungry in the Midst of Plenty.")
Meanwhile, cattle herders have been illegally driving their animals deep into Kenya's parks and reserves in search of water and grazing land.
From the air, massive cattle tracks can be seen leading deep into the Masai Mara National Reserve, and the Kenya Wildlife Service reported that rangers recently pushed ten thousand cattle out of Tsavo West.
"We have been negotiating with the communities to allow wildlife to have a bit of peace in the parks where there is a little water, but there aren't hard and fast measures we can take," wildlife service spokesperson Paul Udoto said.
"It's really been a body blow to our animals."
Wildlife Attacks
Some conservationists fear that cattle herders might even start killing wildlife if they continue to be denied access to water and grazing land inside national parks.
(Related: "Lions, Hippos Poisoned in Famous Kenya Park.")
"People are asking why should they not be allowed to go into the park in case of unusual circumstances like now?" said Dickson Kaelo, a program officer at BaseCamp Foundation, a community conservation group outside Masai Mara.
"If they aren't allowed to, why should they allow wildlife to come into their land just for the benefit of the tourism industry?"
Any wildlife attacks would be more bad news for species that have already seen drastic declines.
One recent study, for example, found that wildlife numbers both inside and outside Kenya's parks have fallen by 40 percent since the 1970s.
People in Kenya are now waiting for October, when the shorter rainy season normally begins. But some experts worry that Kenya's water woes aren't likely to end anytime soon.
"I think it's probably the worst drought we've seen for quite a long time," Douglas-Hamilton said. "And it's not over, not by a long chalk."
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