A postcard from our Education Specialist in Alice Springs, Australia

September 13, 2006

Dear Friends,

Today is the final day of my month long exchange with the Alice Springs Desert Park (ASDP) located in the almost geographical center of Australia. It has been a month filled with making new friends and amazing experiences like going into the bush with the Arrente Aboriginal elders of the region and digging for Witchetty grubs and Honey ants.

The goal of this exchange program is to create partnerships among like-minded educational institutions. When Jodie Clarkson of ASDP completes her month exchange at ASDM later this year, we will work together to create linked Web pages that compare our two regions so that children can learn about the Sonoran Desert or Central Australian Desert plants, animals, and people in a more interactive manner than ever before. They will see that although our deserts may be thousands of miles apart, survival strategies for organisms are very similar.

I am grateful to the International Partnership Among Museums (IPAM), Alice Springs Desert Park and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum (ASDM) for providing me with the opportunity to represent the Desert Museum on this adventure. I have much to do and share when I return to Tucson!

Brenda King, Education Specialist
Center for Sonoran Desert Studies
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum