I searched the EMBL Reptile Database for Kenyan turtles. From that relatively short list, it was easy to eliminate all genera other than Pelusios, the African Hinged Terrapins, also called Mud Turtles (not to be confused with the American mud turtles Kinosternon). The database lists three species in Kenya: P. broadleyi, P. sinuatus, and P. williamsi. Of these three, I can rule out P. broadleyi because it lives only in Lake Turkana. P. sinuatus (Serrated Hinged Terrapin) has a distinct serrated edge on the back of the carapace. That serration is not apparent in these pictures, but maybe it's variable and the top turtle here is on the less-serrated end of the scale. P. sinuatus is the largest species in the genus, definitely large enough to be my turtles. Also, I've found photos on the web that show it to be the approximate shape and color of my turtles (e.g. the image link from this German-language turtle size chart). I can't find any English-language information about P. williamsi on the web, and I don't have the right reference books, so I really know nothing about that species, and it must remain a possibility also.

Please send me mail if you have any further information, reference suggestions, or wild guesses that might help me identify these turtles.

Adonis Tate sent the following quote from P. Pritchard's Encylopedia of Turtles about P. williamsi:

		"Two subspecies have been described:  P.W. williamsi from the 
		Lake Victoria region, and P.w. lutescens from Lake Albert, the Semliki River, 
		Lake Edward, and their affluents."

8/18/00 -- I've made up my mind with help from Ernst and Barbour's Turtles of the World that this is indeed P. sinuatus, based on both the appearance and distribution.