The semi-traditional courts

Today it is taboo to talk about Hutus or Tutsis and the push to create a sense of unity on the Rosetta Stone 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 . 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 Rosetta Stone Hindi V3 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 Rosetta Stone Portuguese us the farmland with its black volcanic soil and all around the changing green of the hills.