A Chinese tourist has died after being attacked by a hippo on the shores of Lake Naivasha in Kenya's Rift Valley, the country's wildlife service says.

The man, who had been taking photographs, was pronounced dead on arrival at the Naivasha District Hospital, while another tourist survived the attack on Saturday evening, according to the Kenya Wildlife Service.

"The man was bitten on the chest and his injuries were serious and he died minutes after he was retrieved from the lake," said Rift Valley Head of Criminal investigations Gideon Kibunja.

The agency named the dead man as Chang Ming Chuang, 66, and the survivor as Wu Peng Te, 62.

The Chinese embassy did not immediately respond to a call for comment.

On Sunday, Kenyan newspaper The Star quoted the head of a boat owners' association in Naivasha as saying that higher than normal water levels were causing hippos to wander from the lake on to nearby farms and hotel properties searching for pasture.

Naivasha is a city on the lake 90 kilometres north-west of the capital, Nairobi.

After a severe drought last year, Kenya had several months of heavy rains earlier this year that caused serious flooding, including around Lake Naivasha.

Tourism is one of the country's main sources of foreign exchange and nearly 1.5 million tourists visited Kenya last year, according to the Tourism Ministry.

Reuters/AP