Sal Rei

Sal Rei (Portuguese for "Salt King," a name earned when the island led in salt production) is a city on the northwestern coast of the island of Boa Vista in eastern Cape Verde. Sal Rei is the island's main urban settlement, and the 18th largest community in Cape Verde after Cidade Velha. It is also the seat of the Boa Vista Municipality. Sal Rei is the 3rd largest city in Cape Verde.

Sal Rei is linked with the highway serving Rabil and Norte. Sal Rei has a port on the bay and has ferry routes to the islands of Santiago (Praia), Sal (Santa Maria) and Maio (Vila do Maio).

The street system is in a grid pattern. Hotels, restaurants, and bars make up the main industry of Sal Rei after agriculture and other businesses. Buildings surround the bay. The football/soccer team in town is Académica Sal-Rei.

Geography

The small islet of Sal Rei, which is mainly sandy and grassy, lies in the harbor. Mountains are to the north and northeast and further north are Ponta do Sol and Cabo Santa Maria. A plain covers much of the area around Sal as well as Praia da Chave and serves a beach town. Land on Boa Vista is dry, rocky, and uncultivatived, with a few farms subsisting in the area around Sal Rei. Forests cover the northern part of the island, and the dry island desert dominates the rest of the area around Maio. A small saline marsh lies to the northwest.

The national park of Pico d'Antônia which is Pico's fame is bounded to the west along its forests and its slopey valley. More mountains dominate the northeast and the central part are farmlands. The mountains including the view of Monte Batalha dominates the northeast.

Demographics

A part of the population have moved to other islands and other parts of the world. The GDP for the city is low to middle range. Part of the population lives in poverty and living standards are low to moderate.

Nearest places

• Rabil, south

Other

Sal Rei has a school or a collegiate, the island's only middle school and secondary school, churches, banks and a few squares praças.