History of L’Escalier
The village of L’Escalier is in the district of Savanne. It is a village not far from the Rivière du Poste river and surrounded by Savinia, Savannah, La Baraque and Gros Bois. This village bears the name of Baron Daniel L'Escalier, a French official and colonial civil servant, appointed Civil Commissioner of the Iles de France (now Mauritius) and Bourbon (now Ile de la Reunion) in 1791. The Château de Savinniah was built by Adelson Pierrot, the purchaser of Savinia in 1851, which was described as “the most beautiful in the Grand Port...” at that time.
The village has a long history with the sugarcane industry. The Savannah Sugar Estates Company Limited was incorporated in Mauritius as a public company on 21 May 1913. The year 2022 marks 140 years since the entrepreneurs, whose activity would give birth to the ENL group, became owners of the former Savannah Sugar Estates, sold for the development of the flexi-factory (see below). Globalisation and the EU Sugar Regime reform of 2006, with its accompanying 36% reduction in the price of sugar over four years, made the entire Mauritian sugar industry unsustainable. Omnicane was, therefore, launched in July 2009 through a strategic rebranding. Since 2010, all the sugarcane harvested in the south of Mauritius is processed by just one sugar mill, that of Omnicane’s fully integrated flexi-factory at La Baraque.
The special thing about this little village is that it is really peaceful and there is an unparalleled solidarity among the inhabitants. The village boasts a peaceful beach called Le Souffleur which is a hidden attraction known mostly to locals and a nature site where a steep coastline forms interesting rock formations such as the bridge-like Pont Naturel. Another touristic attraction in the village is Bassin Carangue. The village today boasts many facilities for the benefit of its inhabitants including Social Welfare Centre, Village Hall, Police Station, Post Office, Primary Schools, etc.
In L’Escalier, there are people of all religions living including of Hindu, Muslim, Catholic, Chinese, etc. The inhabitants lead a peaceful life together by helping one another like one big family which is representative of the rainbow Mauritian nation and they are very welcoming to foreigners. We, therefore, find Shivala, Mandiram, Kovils, Mosques, Marathi Sabha and a Catholic Church dating over 150 years. The village of L’Escalier was proclaimed as the first-ever “International City of Peace” in Mauritius on 23 June 2020 with Mr Chelvin Ramsamy concurrently designated to serve as an official Peace Ambassador for mentoring L’Escalier as a fully engaged City of Peace.
