Elmo Is Going on Safari in “Sesame Street and the Great Elephant Adventure”

For more than 55 years, “Sesame Street” has helped children understand the great big world around them. This October, that world is about to get even bigger as Elmo, Abby Cadabby and Nina embark on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure.

And they’re going to need their safari gear.

Sesame Workshop is teaming up with PBS’ long-running “Nature” for the new primetime crossover special “Sesame Street and the Great Elephant Adventure,” premiering Wednesday, October 14 at 8/7c on PBS and PBS KIDS. The special will take some familiar Sesame Street friends to Kenya, where an online elephant adoption becomes a very real lesson about wildlife, conservation and what it truly means to care for an animal.

After adopting an orphaned elephant online, Elmo travels alongside Abby and Nina to Kenya’s Sheldrick Wildlife Trust to finally meet his new friend and the people who care for her. It marks the group’s first safari, taking them beyond the elephant sanctuary and into the African bush, where they encounter lions, zebras, giraffes, hippos and plenty of other wildlife along the way.

Yet this isn’t simply a sightseeing trip for Elmo.

Their adventure begins at a safari lodge, where its manager and her young daughter help introduce Elmo and Abby to Kenya’s culture, wildlife and natural environment. As Elmo grows closer to his adopted elephant, however, he begins struggling with the thought of eventually leaving her behind. It leads to perhaps the most important lesson of the entire journey: sometimes loving an animal means understanding that it belongs in the wild rather than with you.

That is a big conservation idea presented through a feeling almost any young child can understand. Kids know what it means to love something so much that they don’t want to say goodbye. By allowing Elmo to experience those emotions himself, “The Great Elephant Adventure” can explore why protecting wildlife and allowing animals to thrive in their natural environments is an act of care rather than simply presenting conservation as another fact to remember.

It is also where pairing “Sesame Street” with “Nature” becomes especially interesting. Since 1982, “Nature” has brought wildlife and the natural world into homes through documentary storytelling, while “Sesame Street” has spent generations finding approachable ways to help children process enormous subjects. Put those strengths together, and suddenly kids aren’t simply watching a program about elephants in Kenya—they’re discovering that world alongside Elmo and Abby.

The special is also designed to encourage children to think of themselves as explorers and problem solvers. There are new animals to discover, a different culture to experience and questions about how humans can responsibly interact with the natural world, all wrapped around the excitement of Elmo and his friends heading out on their first safari.

And really, what better tour guides into the wonders of nature could young viewers ask for?

“Sesame Street and the Great Elephant Adventure” premieres Wednesday, October 14 at 8/7c on PBS and PBS KIDS. Families will also be able to stream the special through PBS’ “Nature” website, PBS KIDS, the PBS KIDS Video app, the PBS app and the “Nature” YouTube channel.

Elmo may be traveling a very long way from Sesame Street, but some of the lessons waiting for him in Kenya aren’t so far removed from the ones he has been sharing with generations of children.

Be curious. Care about the world around you. And sometimes, loving a friend means giving them the space to be exactly where they belong.