Perth Zoo visitors can experience the sights, smells, and sounds of orangutans high up in the rainforest with the opening of a new AUS$3.6m ($3.4m, €2.45m, £2.03m) boardwalk visitor facility.

The 2.1m (6.9ft) high boardwalk extends 125m (410ft) around the Australian zoo’s colony of 12 orangutans. The project also features misting, sounds and more than 2,000 new plants to complete the simulated rainforest experience.

"The boardwalk takes people up to get a better look at these fascinating creatures, a major change from the previous exhibit which left visitors at ground level," said West Australian environment minister Albert Jacob, who officially opened the exhibit on Sunday (13 April).

The project design also allows four extra vertical poles to be linked to the main towers with climbing ropes, increasing the three-dimensional area of the exhibits by about one-third, giving the animals an extended range.

Perth Zoo is working to prepare young orangutans for eventual release into the wild, and the increased space in the exhibit will encourage them to spend more time climbing and swinging, thus increasing their health, strength and fitness.

The boardwalk also takes visitors on a journey through the orangutan classroom with information and interactive structures explaining the life lessons the orangutans will need to learn before they can be released into the Sumatran jungle.