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Salazie (Municipality, Reunion, France)

by Arnaud Leroy

Presentation of Salazie
Municipal flag of Salazie
Municipal coat of arms of Salazie

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Presentation of Salazie

Salazie (7,402 inhabitants; 10,386 hectares) is one of the 24 municipalities which constitutes the Reunion island.

The center of the island of Reunion is made of the three adjacent, volcanic cirques of Mafate (north-west), Salazie (north-east) and Cilaos (south), dominated by Piton des Neiges (3,069 m) and Gros Morne (2,992 m). The cirque of Salazie is the largest and the greenest of the three cirques, because it is opened to the trade winds.
Salazie was originally inhabited by marroons (fugitive slaves); the most famous of them was Anchaing, who lived with women and children on the top of the Piton d'Anchaing dominating the cirque. Anchaing was captured by a bounty hunter, but the legend says that the hunter was moved to pity by Anchaing's family and went back alone down to the valley.

The name of Salazie might come from Malagasy salazy, good encampment; salazy is also the name given to the tripod supporting a cooking-pot. The first organized settlement of the cirque took place in 1829 after a cyclone had trashed the coast of the island. The early colons settled near Mare à Poules d'Eau (lit., Moorhen's Pond). The municipality of Salazie, founded in 1889, is characterized by a very scattered settlement, with three main villages (Salazie, Hell Bourg and Grand Ilet), each built on a ilet (small plateau). The center of the settlement was fixed at Salazie, which is still a small group of houses surrounding a two-tower church and dominated by the scenic Bride's Veil waterfall.

In 1832, Adrien du Buisson, Adrien Pignolet and Adam de Villiers discovered near the village of Hell Bourg the springs of Salazie in the bed of the brook Bras Sec, tributary of the Rivière du Mat. The rate of flow of the springs was 800-1,300 liters per hour, the temperature of water was 32°C. Dr Vinson confirmed the therapeutic values of the springs, which already attracted several people before anything was built on the site. The waters were iron-bearing, hardly chlorinated and calcic, and non-sulphated. They were recommended for children, weak and anaemic adults, and people suffering from gastritis.
On 13 July 1852, a Colonial decree created the Société Anonyme de l'Etablissement Thermal de Salazie. A spa, a casino and a beautiful house for the Director of the company were built. The spa included a big meeting room, a billiard room and a private lounge fo the ladies. Some ten tubs were supplied with slightly warmed water. The water came from a reservoir mixing the waters of two springs with the same chemical composition. The spa was a quiet and green place, which attracted more and more people; accordingly, a road was built to Salazie.
The springs were later purchased by the municipality of Salazie, which ceded them to the Colonial administration, provided a doctor would be hired. In 1920, the temperature of the waters started to decrease and water had to be boiled into big pots until it reached the required temperat