PROVIDENCE — The biggest animals in the Roger Williams Park Zoo have a bigger home, and the people who flock there can fill their eyes and ears with them more easily than ever.

The Fabric of Africa exhibit, which opened Oct. 23, represents the final step in the four-year effort to upgrade the African exhibits at the zoo, and the African upgrade is the first in a three-part sprucing up of the zoo, roundly considered the best in New England.

On a recent morning, zoo spokeswoman Jan Mariani led some visitors through the zoo, particularly the Fabric of Africa exhibit, and showed off the renovations while explaining the philosophy behind them — “The delicate balance between people, animals and the landscape.”

The elephant section of the zoo had always striven to be naturalistic in its appearance, including the moats around the outside, but that took up a lot of space, Mariani says. Now the huge beasts don’t have the moats, but they have double the outdoor space and more to do.

Within 15 minutes of letting Ginny, Alice and Ocean State Kate into the new yard, Mariani says, one of the elephants had found the tree branch laid across a path to use as a back-scratcher. And “they love to smoosh around” in the mud and sand wallows — as soon as one discovered them, the rest came trotting, in their heavy way, to check them out. They have an 11-foot-deep pond to cool off in — deep enough to submerge themselves in completely, and with waterfalls for even more playing around.

In the summer, a booth will be staffed with volunteers and equipped with interactive exhibits for zoo-goers to look at and touch. There’s also a play area on the side of the elephant-giraffe house, with benches as well; Mariani says zoo officials recognize the importance of having a place where “kids can play and parents can rest.”

There’s a new platform in between the giraffe and elephant areas, so zoo-goers can get as close as 10 feet away from either species. “It’s really quite thrilling,” Mariani says.

The kids at the zoo on a recent morning agreed.

Amanda Trainor, 10, of South Kingstown, pronounced the zoo “cool,” especially for “the animals you don’t get to see.” Madison Zancan, 5, of Cumberland, liked the close-up look at the giraffes: “They stick their tongues out at you.”

Kelsey Grimes, of Wakefield, who turns 8 years old today, saw it differently: “He looks like he has a fish in his mouth.”

Mariani says she could look at the elephants all day: “It’s mind-blowing [to think] what it would be like to have a body like that. It changes the whole way you interact with the world.”

In order to make room for the elephant-giraffe area, the zebras and the wildebeests will be sharing a space nearby. This is OK, Mariani says; they live together in the wild, and “they’re having to learn to play together” at the zoo. Until they get acclimated to each other, though, the species are alternating in the outdoor space.

That’s all part of the zoo’s job, Mariani says — “preserving the habitat as well as the species.”

Some of the other relatively new additions to the zoo aren’t getting the kind of spotlight time that the African animals, are, but they’re fitting in just fine, Mariani says. The two Patagonian cavies — they look like a cross between a rabbit, a guinea pig and a deer — were crouched together in their doorway when visitors walked by, but Mariani says they’re doing well. The Nigerian goats are getting used to their home, although Mariani says they had to put up a new temporary fence around them because “they were just jumping out of here.” Meanwhile, the red panda curled up to nap on a platform in the trees of the Marco Polo Trail.

Next up for the zoo, now that the Fabric of Africa is finished, is a children’s zoo with native New England animals and a veterinary hospital, both slated for completion in 2010. The North American Trail exhibit should be done a couple of years later, Mariani says, and the polar bears should be back in 2012.

But right now, the elephants and giraffes are the main attraction. As we re-emerge from the trail in front of their house, about 20 people are gathered about10 feet in front of a giraffe munching some leaves (they don’t drink water, Mariani explains — in the wild, it would leave them vulnerable).

“This,” Mariani says, “is pretty much what it’s all about.”

Owen Olivier, 12, of Wakefield, pronounced the new elephant and giraffe digs “a good job … they’re very beautiful animals; they deserve what they got.”

Irene Olivier, of Coventry, was at the zoo with her grandchildren — Owen, Kelsey Grimes and Kelsey’s twin sister, Rachel. She said she’s been taking them to the zoo since they were in strollers. “It’s well-spent money on these animals.”

rmassimo@projo.com