Elephant Festival Laos

Xayaboury's Elephant Festival, held each February since 2007 and now recognized at the national level, celebrates the province's status as home to Laos's largest domesticated elephant population. Dozens of elephants parade through town in traditional processions alongside ethnic music and dance performances, with organizers using the week-long event to promote elephant welfare and conservation as the country's captive elephant numbers continue to decline.

Xayaboury's Elephant Festival grew out of a 2007 initiative to spotlight the province's role as home to the largest population of domesticated elephants remaining in Laos, a country whose old name, Lan Xang, translates as land of a million elephants and whose elephant population has fallen sharply over the past century amid habitat loss and the decline of traditional logging work that once employed the animals.