The Serra dos Órgãos National Park is located about a one-hour drive from the city of Rio de Janeiro.

The origin of the unusual name is credited to early Portuguese settlers who thought the ensemble of the hill tops resembled the pipes of organs in European cathedrals.

The park is part of the larger Serra do Mar chain of mountains, and the most accepted theory about its origin is that it rose about 60 million years ago during earthquakes that caused the Andes to rise.

The park was created by the government of Getúlio Vargas by decree law 1822 of 30 November 1939 with an area of about 9,000 hectares (22,000 acres).

In the 1960s, with the national capital transferred from Rio de Janeiro to Brasilia, the park lost funding and the facilities were allowed to deteriorate.

[3] The park was included in the Central Rio de Janeiro Atlantic Forest Mosaic, created in 2006.

[4] The climate is tropical superhumid, with 80% to 90% relative humidity caused by moist air from the Atlantic most of the year.

Average rainfall is 1,700 to 3,600 millimetres (67 to 142 in), with more rain in the summer (December to March) and a dry season in the winter from June to August.