title: Lika (river)
text: # Lika (river)
  
  The Lika is a river in Croatia which gives its name to the Lika region. It is 77 kilometres (48 mi) long and it has a basin with an area of 1,014 square kilometres (392 sq mi). Its average discharge at the measurement station in Bilaj (covering 225 $km^2$ of the basin) is 7.33 $m^3/s,$ and it can go completely dry.
  
  It is known as a sinking river because at the end of its course, it flows into a series of ponors or swallow-holes and disappears from the surface. The Lika River rises near the village of Kukljić at the foot of the Velebit Mountains, flows in a northwesterly direction past the town of Gospić, enters and leaves Lake Krušćica, and continues to the northwest until it sinks into the karst topography at ponors near Lipovo Polje.
  
  