You’ll never be alone in Rwanda. Not just because in sociable Africa the concept of solitude is generally unknown but because this tiny country, marginally bigger than Munster, is the most densely populated on the African Continent. There are an estimated 10 million people living in its 26,000 square kilometres.

The population of Rwanda is doubling every quarter of a century. Before the genocide there were just over 7.5 million people living here. 800,000 people were killed and two million fled the country. In the intervening 14 years many have returned from neighbouring countries and, consequently, the birth rate has increased.

Rwanda now has too many people for its size. Its mountainous terrain limits the area that can be cultivated. Half of the farming in Rwanda is on hillsides and people eke out a living farming these slopes as well as the valleys. Because agricultural land has been over-cultivated the soil has been eroded. Twelve million tonnes of soil are washing into Rwanda's rivers every year.

No surprise then that farmers are encroaching on the country’s National Parks in search of land. They grow corn and plantain, and they graze their cattle and goats. Wildlife in the parks poses a threat to the human population living in such close proximity.

When a lioness and three cubs attacked and killed five heads of cattle near Akagera National Park in the east of the country, close to the Tanzanian border, the local authorities ordered a ‘hunt-to-kill’ operation despite the warning from the tourist board ORTPN that not only was it illegal but it was also a threat to the tourism industry.

Akagera is a sad example of what is happening to wildlife in the area. The government website may describe it as “teeming with wildlife both large and small” but for anyone other than a first-time safari tourist it is a disappointment. Since 1995 the animal population has been steadily depleted. Returning refugees from Uganda who did not feel secure enough to return to their homes were rehoused near the park.

The park’s perimeter was reduced in order to create more space for human habitation. Many of the animals were poached for food or for sale. Given the wealth of animal life in neighbouring Tanzania and Kenya, it is hard to see why anyone would come here.

But the biggest money-spinner is the mountain gorilla found in the Volcanoes National Park in northwest Rwanda. There are just several hundred of these animals living in the wild and they are only to be found in Central Africa.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is too unstable to take advantage of this precious natural resource so its neighbours benefit from the international fascination with these creatures, who remind us, more than any other animal, of ourselves. More than 12,000 tourists visit Rwanda annually to see the mountain gorillas, paying about $500 each to do so. That’s $6 million a year going directly into the exchequer. Then there is the income and employment that comes with the hotel, restaurant and transport industries that are needed to service visitors.

But these animals too are at risk. There is a continuing security threat from militia incursions from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Remnants of the Hutu militias who fled after the genocide are determined to overthrow the Kagame government and have been trying to destabilize the vital tourist industry.

The biggest threat, however, comes from the demands created by the growing population. The Volcanoes National Park is located in an area of high population density, and is used by some communities for firewood, charcoal, mining and cultivation. Trees are felled for arable land and to make charcoal, the principal cooking fuel.

Each family uses an estimated 68 kilograms of charcoal per month. An illegal and lucrative trade has grown up to service this need. Illegal charcoal traffickers fell the old-growth trees which have flourished within the protection of the parks’ boundaries. This is the vital forest habitat of the mountain gorillas.

Last year in the DRC a family of seven mountain gorillas were killed, it’s believed by illegal charcoal traffickers. It was seen as a message to the state not to intervene to stop this unlawful and damaging trade. This was not just a blow to conservationists but also to the economy. Given the scarcity of land in the area, there have been many requests from local people that the park boundaries be revised and its area reduced.

Local farmers look at the 130 square kilometres set aside for a couple of hundred primates while they wonder how they can grow enough food to feed their families. The government has so far resisted these demands. Apart from tourism, coffee exports and aid, they are the only other sources of income in Rwanda. And President Paul Kagame has an ambitious programme for his country.

Realising that landlocked Rwanda has neither valuable natural resources nor manufacturing potential, he has set the country on a course of accelerated development, leap-frogging industrialisation and jumping right into the 21st century using communications technology as the springboard. But all this requires investment, and the money which at the moment comes from tourism.

One Rwandan tourism official who trains the rangers who live with the mountain gorillas 24 hours a day to protect them tried to explain the population boom that is threatening this wildlife. “Rwandans are having children to try and erase the past. Children represent the future, a new beginning.” But without the money that gorillas bring into the country - the future will be bleak.