Wonders of the Pakistan; The Princess of Hope

     The Princess of Hope is a hoodoo or "fairy chimney," a naturally occurring rock feature in Pakistan that may be interpreted erroneously as looking like a crowned and skirted female figure gazing toward the horizon. It is located roughly 717 miles from Quetta, the provincial capital, and about 190 km from Pakistan's financial centre of Karachi. The oddly shaped rock pinnacle may be found in the province of Balochistan's Hingol National Park, in the Lasbela District. The park's rocky terrain is dotted with attractive gorges and has strange rock and mud formations that have been eroded into their current shapes. 

    The Makran, which includes several Iranian coastal regions, includes the Lasbela District as part of its coastal strip. Hollywood star Angelina Jolie, who visited Pakistan in 2002 as a UN Goodwill Ambassador and visited the Hingol National Park, gave the formation the moniker Princess of Hope. The term, which Jolie came up with on the spot as an immediate, irrational response to the monolith's shape, persisted, clearly appealing to then-current local tastes.