Dates of the 2013 Laos Elephant Festival???

[http://www.howtotraveltolaos.com/2013/01/elephant-festival-in-laos-in-2013.html]

Huh. I thought suuuure I'd already posted a reply to this... Oh well, will try again.

Thanks surfboy. I found that link early on in my quest, but the dates were contradicted by other sites, plus the 17th is a Sunday, and in the past, apparently the festival has always been held on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

But... I just today (FINALLY, after a 2nd email in more than a week) got a reply from elephantconservationresearch.com that definitively said: "the festival will take place on 17, 18 and 19 february in sayaboury city."

So I guess it will run Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, after all. Go figure.

In any case - yay! Now I can book my air to Laos!

Knowing Laos as I do, I would say with all sincerity that probably very few people really know for sure. All you'll ever get is speculation so you can never ever bank on the info. No-one ever knows when anything is until it's upon them, then the Lao grapevine is a marvel to see how fast the word spreads. Truly! Even the Lao Student Games (a really big deal) held in LPB in December 2011; we didn't know the dates or times or schedule till like 3 days before.

Good luck!

Just a quick follow-up pop-in here to say...

So I did indeed make it to the Festival. But due to the utter lack of info/promotion (as opposed to earlier years when the founders of the festival, Elefant Asia organized it) - 'cuz I learned this year was the first year that the Laos gov't took over the festival - it turned out to be a bit of a nightmare from many folks I talked w/ who couldn't find a place to sleep to save their souls.

I was lucky (and I dare say wise) as I deliberately scheduled a full 5 days in Luang Prabang before the festival so as to make an advance hotel reservation via telephone. Even then, the dear staff at my LP guesthouse were on the phone to Sayaboury for an entire morning - phoning hotel, after hotel, but they were all full. But finally, I was able to get a room (at a hotel what turned out to be quite nice at just $20/nt.) for 4 nts.

Others weren't so lucky. I met several who were sleeping in some horrific-sounding homestays (under the stars, on a plank set over a stinky pond, etc.) And worse, some traveled the 4 hours by bus from LP - only to have to head directly back there 'cuz they simply couldn't find a place to stay.

In any case, suffice that the festival was great and I also spent a fine day at the Elephant Conservation Center - highly recommended. It's also run by Elefant Asia, and they are doing some truly fine work there.