mod rewrite - redirect problem

I have created a simple dynamic website with php and I am having trouble making my URL structure search engine friendly.
What I am trying to do is redirect links like this

www.example.com/index.php?page=animals

Code (markup):

to this (including a trailing backslash)

www.example.com/animals/

Code (markup):

I have spent ages searching for a solution and found the below is the only one that actually lets the new URL work but I can't redirect it.
It seems to be backwards to every other solution I have seen, when I add R=301 into the rule it redirects the nice url to the long version.

RewriteEngine On

RewriteRule ^([^/\.]+)/$ /index.php?page=$1 [L]

Code (markup):

So in short the two problems I have with this are:
1. It doesn't actually redirect the URL, it just allows both version to work.
2. If I tried to use the new url without the trailing backslash

www.example.com/animals

Code (markup):

it will just bring up the 404 page. It should redirect to the page with a trailing slash.

Any help will be much appreciated
Many thanks

 

There are many online mod_rewrite rules generators (just Google it) - here's one: http://www.webmaster-toolkit.com/mod_rewrite-rewriterule-generator.shtml

You can also test your rules with something like http://martinmelin.se/rewrite-rule-tester/

 

Try maybe something like this:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /

RewriteRule ^([^/]+)/?$ /index.php?page=$1 [L]

Code (markup):

The question mark between /?$ will fix the trailing trash problem. Both url's will work, yes.