All hail the silverback

Magic mountain ... a mountain gorilla makes an appearance..Credit: Ariadne Van Zandbergen/Lonely Pl

'You cannot fall off and if you do, I will catch you," Imaani lies cheerfully. On my first day in Rwanda - and Africa - on my first ever motorbike ride, I am terrified. Wearing a helmet that bounces off my head at every bump, and with my eyes shut, I cling to the back of one of the two-wheeled taxis that ply the capital's streets.

When I respond to Imaani's pleas and look around, I find the scenery is enough to distract even the most nervous passenger. Kigali, with its population of a million, creeps up four of the emerald ridges that give the country its nickname, "the land of a thousand hills", before sinking into the mist-filled valleys between. Officially the most densely populated country in Africa, Rwanda's small size (about half that of Scotland) means even its capital has the peaceful air of a village. One woman from the Ivory Coast who I met on the plane confides ruefully: "People stay at home with their families at night. We say it is a place for retired people." Sure enough, it doesn't take long for the shiny banks and tangled market streets to give way to lush farms and neatly dressed office workers to women toting bananas on their heads.

We arrive in mid-December - the tail end of the rainy season when bougainvillea and frangipani flowers stud the green hills. With my sister bumping over the potholes on a motorbike next to me, we drive along a steep mud road up the hill after which the city is named, Mount Kigali. Whizzing past waving children, robed dancers and a church choir, we smile in delight at the postcard-perfect scenes of rural life.

Our motorcycle ride is a shot of holiday euphoria after an emotional morning. There are few unmissable sites in Kigali and the genocide memorial centre is one of them. Here, we wander through carefully tended gardens and flowering trellises to the concrete-covered mass graves of a quarter of a million genocide victims; new bodies are brought in every year. It's a heart-stopping reminder of the scale of the violence in 1994 when more than 800,000 people, mainly Tutsis, were massacred in just 100 days in a campaign of organised violence, carried out largely by the majority Hutu population.

Alongside an explanation of the history that led to the genocide (where the blame is squarely placed on colonial "divide and rule" tactics), one room documents the chilling fate of child victims: their names, ages and favourite foods carefully noted beside the brutal ways they were killed. One Rwandan woman is so overcome with grief watching a video of the aftermath of the killings, she lies sobbing quietly on the floor.

With such a horrific recent past, it's unsurprising that Rwanda is far from being a tourist hot spot. But in the past 16 years the country has been transformed and this is finally being mirrored in the rising number of tourists willing to visit. Today it is taboo to talk about Hutus or Tutsis and the push to create a sense of unity on the population is visible everywhere. Each place we visit has its own memorials to those lost in the violence. Road signs that elsewhere would caution against speeding, in Rwanda remind people to stand together for fear of another genocide. The semi-traditional courts that have tried most of those accused of genocide are due to be wound up this year and the country seems ready and determined to look to the future.

Most importantly, perhaps, Rwanda is stable. In November the country became the newest member of the Commonwealth - only the second country not formerly a British colony to be admitted (after Mozambique). The move came after English became the official language for schools to teach in, ousting French in 2008.

The sense of optimism created by the fast-growing economy, reduced corruption and decreasing crime rate has brought Rwandans from neighbouring Uganda and Burundi flooding home. The government seems anxious to make sure that the rapid growth doesn't damage the environment and the country has a head start because of Rwandans' fierce sense of civic pride. On the last Saturday of each month, every citizen over the age of 18 must take part in umuganda, or communal work. Businesses are closed and everyone spends the day improving their neighbourhoods. As a result, Rwanda is remarkably litter free and when our driver, Twalib, suspects I am about to drop a soft-drink can he almost wrestles me to the ground in horror.

There is a breathtaking amount of beauty to protect. We arrive in time for a dawn drive to Volcanoes National Park. The road coils around the hills, passing terraced fields and roadside markets with men and women carrying baskets, bushels of banana leaves and even carpets on their heads. Our destination is the volcanic range called the Virungas, home to Rwanda's famous mountain gorillas. There are about 750 left in the wild and they're carefully protected. Only about 50 people a day are allowed to trek to see them, with each group of visitors allowed an audience with the gorillas for one hour.

Our walk starts among the eucalyptus groves of the valley, where excited children chase us along the road, taking time out from their chores to show us their tree-climbing skills. Our group of five is accompanied by a guide, trackers and a ranger with a gun to scare away stray buffalo. Many rangers are poachers turned gamekeepers; in a bid to stop people from nearby farms poaching the park's animals, they were given jobs here.

Slipping and sliding up the muddy hillside, we walk through eerie bamboo forests and yelp in fields of stinging nettles. The ground beneath us is a tangle of roots and stalks and as difficult to balance on as a cat's cradle. But the views are incredible. In the distance are the jagged edges of three of the volcanoes that give the park its name; below us the farmland with its black volcanic soil and all around the changing green of the hills.

Then suddenly, protruding from the greenery, appears a massive head - it's the silverback, the leader of the gorilla family we're tracking. We're still recovering from the shock of seeing such a huge, wild animal when there's a rustle in a bamboo clump and out pops a baby gorilla, all fluffy fur and liquid eyes. Catapulting from another branch, his brother lands on top of him and they beat their tiny chests in mock anger.

There are screams in the distance - our guide identifies two females fighting. The wall of muscle that is the silverback immediately sets off to sort it out.

As we scramble to get out of the way, the family stalks right through our group, close enough to touch but confident in the knowledge that we will not dare accost them. In a nearby clearing a youngster stretches out, arms behind his head, watching us as his mother grooms him. It's possible to stay for days in the park and many tourists spend their whole holiday visiting the gorillas and trying to spot the rare golden monkeys for which the area is also famous.

We're anxious to see what else the country has, so we head south to Gisenyi, on the edge of Lake Kivu. On approach the evening sky is lit by the beautiful but unnerving glow of Nyiragongo, an active volcano (it erupted again two weeks after we left). Lake Kivu is one of the African Great Lakes, running for 100 kilometres along the Congolese-Rwandan border. More like an inland sea, its shore is clustered with hotels. In the early morning we barter with a sleepy boatman for a trip in his water-taxi, heading out towards Congo. As we float lazily to the shore, we see a group of young dancers practising a routine: girls in red polka-dot skirts expertly balance pots on their heads as they sway while boys in colourful headdresses wait to join in.

Away from the lake, Gisenyi is a busy, messy border town. We buy beautiful printed cloth from traders in the market, who find our laboured attempts to speak Kinyarwanda so comical that they lower their prices. The border itself is fascinating: laidback guards check the woven baskets of shoppers and wave through neatly dressed schoolchildren in spotless white shirts. Across no-man's land is the ramshackle Congolese city of Goma, where we glimpse dusty, corrugated roofs next to huge white mansions.

My first trip to Africa wouldn't be complete without a safari and Rwanda's eastern border is the perfect opportunity. Through valleys where children herd goats as big as themselves, past houses with mud walls and groves of banana plants, we arrive at the savannahs of the Akagera National Park. Famous for its birds, crocodiles and hippos, the park has been protected since 1934 - although it has shrunk since the genocide, with land commandeered for returning refugees.

Despite the array of wildlife, there are few visitors. At the Akagera Lodge, with breathtaking views in the heart of the park, we meet a couple who are the sole guests. Driving through the high grass we see only one other car and the sense of isolation adds to my mounting excitement. We see a herd of bouncing impala deer - affectionately known as the McDonald's of Africa because they are so common every predator eats them - and when we finally spot a giraffe I can hardly stop myself from jumping from the car to get a closer look. Five minutes later we're staring awestruck at a group of grazing zebras, who stare back calmly.

The bad-tempered buffalo are less impressed by our four-wheel-drive, pawing the ground until we move off. On our way to the park's Lake Ihema we pass baboons and bushbucks and even spot a warthog.

The lake, bounded by papyrus swamps, is home to huge Nile crocodiles, which make our boat crossing slightly nerve-racking. Floating past a pod of hippopotami in the shallows, it is hard to imagine they could do any damage until one yawns, displaying its massive teeth.

On an island in the centre we spot fish eagles and herons, while the shores are home to the ugly "undertaker bird", an alarming mix of stork and vulture. Stay for longer and you might be rewarded with a glimpse of the park's lions, leopards or hyenas.

That night we return to Kigali, for one final night to find out whether my Ivory Coast informant is right about Rwandan nightlife. The main nightclub is closed tonight, so she is right. But I'm not complaining.

FAST FACTS

Getting there

Kenya Airways flies to Kigali for about $2580: to Bangkok on Thai Airways (nine hours), then on Kenya Airways to Nairobi (9½ hours) and Kigali (90 minutes). (Fare is low-season return from Sydney and Melbourne including tax.) Australians require a visa for a stay of up to 15 days and this can be issued on arrival with prior approval.

Touring there

Peregrine Adventures has several tours to Rwanda, from four to 15 days; see peregrineadventures.com.

World Expeditions has a five-day gorilla adventure; see worldexpeditions.com.

- Guardian News & Media