The UK’s largest indoor tropical rainforest, Amazonia, was officially opened in Scotland last week by Christine Hamilton, a former contestant on I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here.

The £500,000 rainforest environment is located within M&D’s theme and entertainment park, in Strathclyde Country Park in Motherwell and boasts more than 100 Amazonian rainforest creatures.

The development is the brainchild of wildlife experts Steven Dickie and Neil Cunningham, who previously launched Amazonia in East Lothian in February 2002, but were forced to shut down in November 2003 when their landlord closed the site on which it was based, after less than two years of operation.

The new, 8,000sq ft (745sq m) development, twice the size of the previous site, has been funded by M&D’s.

Dickie and Cunningham plan to work with local schools to educate children as well as dispelling popular myths about creatures such as tarantulas and pythons.

They hope to open further centres throughout the UK.

Christine Hamilton welcomed the part Amazonia will play in teaching children about the wonders of the rainforest. “I experienced first hand the delights of a jungle environment and we all have a responsibility to ensure as many people as possible are aware of, and can interact with, the special creatures we share the planet with,” she said.

“Amazonia is a fabulous little oasis in the middle of urban Scotland.” Details: www.discoveramazonia.co.uk or www.scotlandsthemepark.com