The Princess of Hope () is a natural rock formation in the

Hingol National Park Hingol National Park or Hungol National Park () is one of the largest national parks in Pakistan, located in the Makran coastal region. The park covers an area of about and is located 190 km from Karachi in the three districts of Gwadar, Las ...

of Lasbela in

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; , ), also spelled as Baluchistan or Baluchestan, is a historical region in West and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. This arid region o ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. It is of the type known as a hoodoo or "fairy chimney" and which could fancifully be construed (see mimetolith) as resembling a

crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, parti ...

ed and

skirt A skirt is the lower part of a dress or a separate outer garment that covers a person from the waist downwards. At its simplest, a skirt can be a draped garment made out of a single piece of fabric (such as pareos). However, most skirts are ...

ed female figure looking toward the horizon. It is situated approximately from the Pakistan's

financial hub A financial centre (financial center in American English) or financial hub is a location with a significant concentration of commerce in financial services. The commercial activity that takes place in a financial centre may include banking, ...

Karachi, Sindh Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

, and approximately from the provincial capital,

Quetta Quetta is the capital and largest city of the Pakistani province of Balochistan. It is the ninth largest city in Pakistan, with an estimated population of over 1.6 million in 2024. It is situated in the south-west of the country, lying in a ...

. The curiously shaped rock pinnacle is located in the

in the

Lasbela District Lasbela District ( , , ) is a coastal district and part of the Kalat Division situated in the south-east of Balochistan, Pakistan. Located approximately northwest of Karachi, the district is geographically and economically significant. A ...

of the province of

, the mountainous

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...

of which is riven with picturesque gorges and features unusual formations of mud and rock, shaped into their present forms by the forces of

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...

. Lasbela District forms part of the coastal strip known as the

Makran Makran (), also mentioned in some sources as ''Mecran'' and ''Mokrān'', is the southern coastal region of Balochistan. It is a semi-desert coastal strip in the Balochistan province in Pakistan and in Iran, along the coast of the Gulf of Oman. I ...

, which also takes in certain coastal regions of Iran. The formation was given the name Princess of Hope by Hollywood actress

Angelina Jolie Angelina Jolie ( ; born Angelina Jolie Voight, , June 4, 1975) is an American actress, filmmaker, and humanitarian. The recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Angelina Jolie, numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards ...

, who visited Pakistan - including the Hingol National Park - in the year 2002 as a UN Goodwill Ambassador. The name (conceived by Jolie on the spot as a spontaneous, personal reaction to the form of the monolith) stuck, having evidently appealed to then-current local sensibilities. Not far from the "Princess" stands another natural rock formation of

sphinx A sphinx ( ; , ; or sphinges ) is a mythical creature with the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the wings of an eagle. In Culture of Greece, Greek tradition, the sphinx is a treacherous and merciless being with the head of a woman, th ...

-like form, the so-called "Balochistan Sphinx" (known also as the "Lion of Balochistan" or Abul-Hol) which is visible from the Buzi Pass section of the

Makran Coastal Highway The N-10 or National Highway 10 (Urdu: ) is a 653 km national highway in Pakistan which extends along Pakistan's Arabian Sea coast from Karachi in Sindh province to Gwadar in Balochistan province. It passes the towns of Ormara and Pasni ...

References

{{reflist Rock formations of Pakistan Landforms of Balochistan (Pakistan)

See also

References