[3] In the 1920s and 1930s Kennedy-Shaw contributed to the exploration of the Western Desert in the area around the south-western corner of modern Egypt with his particular interest and skills as a botanist, archaeologist and navigator.
He made four major trips: During the winter of 1927/1928 Kennedy-Shaw and Douglas Newbold, on leave from the Sudan Government service, travelled the Arba’in slave road from Selima and Bir Natrun, covering 1,000 km by camel.
[4] In October 1930 Kennedy-Shaw accompanied Ralph Alger Bagnold on a trip from Cairo to Ain Dalla, into the Sand Sea, past Ammonite hill to the Gilf Kebir, south to Uweinat and on to Wadi Halfa, returning via the Arba'in slave road via Salima oasis, Kharga and then Aysut.
R. N. Harding Newman (Royal Tank Corps), M. H. Mason, R. E. McEuen, this time in three Model 46 Ford trucks, first arriving at Gilf Kebir, onto Wadi Halfa, Grassy Valley, El Fasher (in search of medical aid after a serious fall by Colonel Strutt.
He transferred to the Intelligence Corps in 1940, and to the Special Air Service Regiment in 1944 when the LRDG ceased operations with the conclusion of the North Africa Campaign.