Ribeira da Torre

Ribeira da Torre
Povoação da Varzinha at the left bank of Ribeira da Torre
Country	Cape Verde
Basin features
Main source	Rabo Curto near Pico da Cruz Santo Antão 1,500 m (4,900 ft)
River mouth	Atlantic Ocean 17°10′N 25°06′W / 17.16°N 25.1°W / 17.16; -25.1Coordinates: 17°10′N 25°06′W / 17.16°N 25.1°W / 17.16; -25.1
Physical characteristics
Length	12 km (7.5 mi)

Ribeira da Torre (Portuguese: the "tower") is a stream that flows in the northeastern part of the island of Santo Antão in Cape Verde. The stream flows mostly from south to north and is nearly 12 km in length. It flows in the area between Ribeira Grande and Vale do Paul in the lower part.

It forms a part of the protected area known as Cova-Ribeira da Torre-Paul Natural Park.

The stream are one of the most widest and torrential in Santo Antão. The river passes around Água das Caldeiras west of Cova do Paul and flows from south to north into the Atlantic in Ribeira Grande, the size and the flow of Ribeira Grande gives its name to the town.

The name Ribeira da Torre originates from a towering prominent mountain, Topo de Miranda located 2.5 km from the right bank.

The river valley is extremely wide, The upper section is in the locality of Xoxô (name likely of Mandinka origin), flows circular in an active eroded phase known as Rabo Curto. The lower part features an essential zone of alluvial flows, the diagonal part is quitely regular, the inner slope is around 3% and is 7 km long. Most of the buldings are built on the edge of the river next to its mountain slopes including steep ones.

One of its smaller streams is Ribeirinha Curta, a very small creek hence its etymology.

Its slopes are terraced and have systems of irrigation to keep the soil and water. Agriculture is common and sugar canes, bananas, mandiokas, papayas and sweet potatoes are grown in the valley.

The secondary road (Route 3, Insular Road 1, the EN3-SA01) crosses and passes much of the river's distance particularly from south of Ribeira Grande up to the upper middle part of the river and features pathways and a few smaller roads. In February 2012, it became paved. The reason was to have a better circulation of the valley during rainy days along with better access with other parts of the island. The bad thing is that people on the other side of the road get stuck by their houses located on the slopes because they cannot access the other side of the road.

The valley as a couple of fauna, one fauna founded mainly in the valley is a species of spiders known as Tetragnatha torrensis described in 1994.