This is safari country, so don't forget the shortbread

This rugged two-day trek cuts through giant forests, offering glimpses of wild animals and raw natural beauty. Welcome to Scotland, says Adrian Morgan

We had come to Perthshire for a woodland safari, in search of extraordinary trees, golden eagles – or at the very least its favourite snack, a mountain hare – deer, brown trout and an osprey. At the Forestry Commission gate, our guide, Donald Riddell, engaged low gear and the Land Rover Defender trundled and swayed slowly up a rough track past densely planted Sitka spruce, Corsican pine and larch, newly fledged in feathery spring plumage. "That's where a stag's been rubbing its antlers," he said, slowing at an overhanging branch.

The higher you climb the more you leave behind, is Highland Adventure Safari's motto. Within half an hour we had left the soft lowlands for some of the remotest country in Perthshire. Off the B846 near Loch Kinardochy we took the forest track until it petered out into a pock-marked succession of rocky dips and hollows, when the vehicle came into its own. No legwork; comfortable seats; heater: there is nothing like a 4WD for getting you into the wilderness fast. All the while Donald kept up a commentary on flora, fauna, conservation, deer management, fencing and Highland life in general.

Below the bare heights of Meall Tairneachan we took coffee from a flask, nibbled shortbread from a tin and scoured the air for a glimpse of an eagle, quartered the hills for deer. Alas, we saw just a pair of cunningly camouflaged mountain hare crouching motionless, save for a twitch of the ears. So, with a pair of hare on our "must bag" list it was time to go and meet some extraordinary trees. For Perthshire is also Big Tree Country, where Shakespeare's Birnam Wood, to Macbeth's dismay, came to Dunsinane. The ancient Caledonian oak forest was plundered until the 1740s, but a sole survivor stands propped up like a pensioner at a bar beside the mighty Tay river.

In 1773, when Dr Johnson toured the country he was overheard to remark that "a tree in Scotland was as rare as a horse in Venice". The "Planting" Dukes of Atholl were to change that, seeding between 1738 and 1830 some 27 million conifers, some of them shot from the muzzle of a cannon into the bare crags above Dunkeld.

We have the Atholl dukes' obsession with tree-planting to thank for the fact that Perthshire today has 22 of Scotland's 100 finest trees, including the tallest Douglas fir, widest conifer and highest Sitka spruce. Spring here is almost as wonderful as autumn, when the hills are alive with more browns and russets than a Dulux colour chart. Perth also has the oldest living thing in Europe – a yew that stars in Thomas Pakenham's inspired Meetings With Remarkable Trees. It stands by a church at Fortingall, supposed birthplace of Pontius Pilate and the site of one of the Romans' most northerly outposts. In 1779, before souvenir-hunters began hacking bits off, its measured 56ft 6ins in circumference. It sifts the wind as it has for 3,000 or more years. If a wall had not been built centuries back to protect it, I would certainly have hugged it.

"Perthshire has a passion for trees", according to one of the grove's-worth of leaflets we collected during our two-day tour. "We're sure you'll share it by the time you leave." And we did, having bagged the tallest hedge in the world – a 30m high, 530m long line of manicured beech at Meiklour, planted by soldiers who died at Culloden, the "mother" larch at Dunkeld cathedral whose seed began it all, and possibly the tallest Douglas fir, which I did hug (we might just have missed the tallest, settling for a monster of 181ft as measured in 1994). A prime case surely of failing to see the tree for the woods.

This swath of central Scotland, with Blair Atholl to the north, Dunkeld to the south and stretching as far west as lonely Glen Lyon, is quintessential Victorian Scotland: tartan shortbread tins, tweedy fishermen, white-haired little old ladies and stags at bay. Increasingly it attracts mountain-bikers, ordinary cyclists, canoeists, white-water-rafters, sky-divers and climbers.

Having probably caught a glimpse of, but not hugged, the tallest Douglas fir (212ft and growing) at the Hermitage, a woodland park created by the Victorians on the banks of the River Braan, and posed by the Birnam oak, we headed west, following the course of the Lyon to South Chesthill. There we put up a rod and cast a line into one of the many salmon pools on this lovely stretch of river. A 1lb brown trout, spring-hungry, took the fly.

It only remained to scale a mountain, which would have been possible if time had not pressed. Schiehallion (1,083m, "fairy hill of the Caledonians"); or Ben Lawers, at 1,214m Perth's tallest – an easy enough task as a road leads most of the way, followed by a well-trodden path flanked with rare alpines to the summit.

Thus, in two days, like 21st-century John Macnabs of Buchan's tale, we'd bagged a hare, a fish, a hedge and four Remarkable Trees. We failed to spot an eagle but settled for an osprey, that elegantly taloned, fish-grabbing blur of white whose reintroduction into the Highlands has been one of the ecology success stories of recent years. On the road back to Highland Safari's base we stopped at the roadside and Donald focused the telescope on a blurry head poking up above its nest in an electricity pylon. We had been led to believe osprey prefer big trees. "Perth, Big Pylon Country" does not have quite the same ring to it.

The Perthshire SpringFest 2003 continues until 13 May, with numerous events taking place, including tree-planting days, forest-track cycle rides for families, wood fairs and guided walks. There will be an accompanied dawn chorus walk on 17 May at 4am from the National Trust Visitors' Centre in Killiecrankie, £4 per adult and £2 per child. There is also a guided Land Rover Woodland Safari on 12 and 19 May offer by Highland Adventure Safaris (01887 820071; www.highlandadventuresafaris.co.uk). Tickets cost £15 for adults and £5 children over five. Booking is essential. For further information, contact the Perthshire Tourist Board (01738 450600; www.perthshire.co.uk).