Azizi Life Experiences in Byimana: Every Day Out with Prices

From its base in Byimana, Ruhango, Azizi Life runs ten experiences you can book: full days with an artisan cooperative at US$100 per person (weaving, or beekeeping and candle dipping), US$190 days spent making pottery, banana juice or a mud-brick wall, an US$80 cooking day, a US$15 two-hour crafting workshop at the boutique, a two-hour drumming session for US$80 and a US$100 night in an artisan's home. Nearly all of them need two people and take up to twelve. The base is about an hour and a half's drive from Kigali, so every full day here is a day out of the capital, not an afternoon add-on.

Azizi Life is a fair-trade non-profit that works with rural artisan groups. The days below are designed and hosted by those artisans, with an Azizi Life translator beside you throughout. The host says it gives 5% of its tourism revenue to its local non-profit, Azizi Life Impact, and that the artisan group earns a fair wage for each visit. You'll see the organisation listed under Muhanga on review sites and in its own postal address; the experiences themselves start from the office and boutique in Byimana, Ruhango, in the Southern Province (Azizi Life, Experiences). The same host also runs three sessions from its Kinigi shop in the north, which we cover in our Kinigi guide.

Every day starts in Byimana, about 90 minutes from Kigali

Each experience begins with a welcome at the Azizi Life office and boutique in Byimana, then a short drive to the host community, and ends back at the boutique with a cold drink and a chance to buy the crafts made by the people you've just spent the day with. Transport from Kigali isn't included in any of the prices below; the host says it will help arrange it if you ask, so tell us where you're staying when you book. On weekdays there are often artisans delivering products to the boutique, and there is a café selling coffee, tea and fresh juice, with breakfast available if you order ahead.

Groups: the full days are priced per person, need at least two guests and take up to twelve. The host advertises discounts for groups of more than nine, so ask us if you're bringing a big family or a school group.

A Day in the Life of an Artisan is the one to start with

You join a weaving cooperative for the day. The morning is the women's normal chores: you might help in the kitchen, fetch water from the valley spring, cut grass for the animals or do whatever the season demands in the fields, hoeing or planting. The hosts work alongside you and expect you to rest or sit out whenever you want; they cultivate for six hours at a stretch and know you won't. Lunch at about 12:30 is a cooked vegetarian meal of the kind the family eats, such as cassava and beans. After lunch you sit with the cooperative, learn how the natural fibres are harvested and prepared, and make a piece of sisal jewellery to take home (host's example day).

It costs US$100 per person and includes the facilitator, the village activities, the meal and the craft lesson. Transport from Kigali and tips are extra. Wear closed shoes, bring a spare pair in case the fields are muddy, and consider long sleeves, because cutting grass can irritate the skin. Bring reading glasses if you need them for close work.

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Experience

A Day in the Life of an Artisan

A hands-on rural Rwanda cultural day with Azizi Life artisans, where guests join a weaving cooperative, take part in daily village activities, share a local meal, and learn craft skills directly from the host community. Price confirmed by the host: $100 per person.

per person · 8 hours

Minimum 2 guests

$100

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Candle Dipping and Hive Making is a day with a beekeeping cooperative

Same price, different craft. You meet your facilitator at the office (or en route, if that suits you better) and drive to the candle makers, then walk the last 15 minutes to the household. Tell us in advance if that walk is a problem, because the host says it can make other arrangements. The morning is fetching water from the well, starting the fire that heats the dipping water, and building a traditional hive from bamboo and banana leaves; the host provides work gloves for that part. Before lunch you clean raw beeswax. After a lunch of the family's usual food, you dip a pair of beeswax candles step by step and take them home (host's example day). US$100 per person, two to twelve people.

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Experience

Candle Dipping and Hive Making

A hands-on Azizi Life beekeeping craft experience where guests learn about hive making, beeswax work, and candle dipping with local artisan guidance. Price confirmed by the host: $100 per person.

per person · 6 hours

Minimum 2 guests

$100

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Pottery, banana juice and construction cost US$190 and are the most physical

These three are the top of the price list, and each one is a day of real labour with something to show for it at the end.

Traditional Pottery Experience. The day begins at 08:30 with a tour of Azizi Life, then you go out with the artisan to collect clay, wood, grass and water. You clean and prepare the clay, shape a pot, vase, candle holder or piggy bank, and leave it to dry in the sun while you eat. After lunch you build the fire and bake your piece the traditional way, without a kiln, before saying goodbye around 15:30 (host's example day). If you only want a short pottery session rather than a full day, Isano's four-hour workshop in Kamonyi is the cheaper alternative; see our Kamonyi pottery guide.

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Experience

Traditional Pottery Experience

A full-day Azizi Life pottery experience in Byimana where guests learn traditional Rwandan clay preparation, shape their own pieces, share lunch with the artisan host, and fire the pieces in the traditional way. Public source: Azizi Life official Traditional Pottery Experience page. Pricing: USD 190 per person.

per person · 8 hours

Minimum 2 guests

$190

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Banana Juice Making. You cut green bananas and the leaves needed, dig a hole and bury the bananas to ripen. Ripening takes four days, so your hosts have a batch already buried for you to dig up after lunch; you peel, mash and strain them by hand to make the juice. Back at the office the juice is boiled so you can taste it and take some away (host's example day). This is the traditional base for banana beer too; if you'd rather learn the brewing in two hours in the city, our urwagwa workshop guide covers that.

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Experience

Banana Juice Making

A cultural Azizi Life experience where guests learn the traditional process behind Rwandan banana juice and banana beer: digging up ripened bananas, peeling, mashing, straining, and tasting the final result. Public source: Azizi Life official Banana Juice Making page. Pricing: USD 190 per person.

per person · 6 hours

Minimum 2 guests

$190

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Traditional Construction. In the morning you collect water and soil and learn to make mud bricks, dig foundations and lay the bricks so the wall stands. After lunch you collect banana leaves, twist them into rope and use it to lash wood for a roof. The host says you might end up building an animal pen, a fence or part of a house (host's example day). It's the one to skip if you have back trouble or hate getting dirty.

The two-hour crafting workshop is the budget and family option

If you can't give a whole day, or you're travelling with small children, the Crafting Workshop is US$15 per person for two or more guests and runs for about two hours in the gardens at the Byimana boutique, or in the sitting lounge if it rains. An artisan and a translator coach you through a craft of your choice, which you take home. The host's team emails you beforehand to ask what you'd like to focus on: seeing how fibres are harvested and prepared, hearing about the artisans' daily lives, or a more complex project if you already craft. Children under five join free, and the host runs special sessions for children and teens (host's workshop page). Meals aren't included unless you add them, so plan lunch at the café or in Ruhango.

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Experience

Crafting Workshop Experiences

A shorter hands-on Azizi Life craft workshop for families, friends, and groups, with ready-made projects and guided making time at the Byimana experience base. Public source: Azizi Life official craft workshop page. Official public rate starts from $15 per person for groups of two or more, pending host confirmation.

per person · 1.5 hours

Minimum 2 guests

$15

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Drumming, cooking, coffee and the home stay

Traditional Drumming and Dancing is a two-hour participatory session with local performers in Byimana, US$80 per person for two to twenty people. Meals and transport are extra.

Traditional Cooking Day (US$80 per person) starts in the fields, moves to grinding and pounding with traditional tools, and ends with you eating what you cooked, back at the boutique by about 14:30. We compare it with two Kigali-area cooking classes in our cooking classes guide.

Traditional Coffee Experience (US$100 per person, eight hours) takes you through picking, washing, roasting, grinding and tasting with a cooperative. Transport is extra unless the host confirms it.

Home Stay Experience is an overnight in an artisan's mud-brick home for US$100 per person, from one person up to eight. You arrive at 15:30, help with dinner, hear stories round a bonfire, sleep on a grass mattress under a mosquito net in a house without electricity, and are back at the boutique by 08:30 the next morning. The host's page is frank about the pit latrine and the bucket bath, and offers you a hot shower in its guest room when you get back (host's example stay).

If you can't leave Kigali, there's a US$12 Friday paint-and-sip

Azizi Life also has a studio at 9 KG 5 Avenue near the Kigali Convention Centre. Its Flavorful Fridays are two hours of painting an imigongo piece with a drink in hand, bring your own bottle, for US$12 per person, from one person up to twenty. It's the only Azizi Life experience priced for a city evening rather than a day in the countryside.

What to wear, and what to tell us when you book

• Dress: men can wear trousers or shorts; the host asks women to wear trousers or a skirt that covers the knees, as rural Rwandan women do.
• Shoes: closed walking shoes. Paths are steep and slippery after rain, and you'll be given a hand if you need one. The rainy seasons the host plans around are February to June and September to November; pack a waterproof jacket then.
• Food: lunches are cooked vegetarian meals. Tell us about allergies when you book, because the food may contain nuts. Bottled water is supplied all day, and the facilitator carries a first aid kit. Each house has a pit latrine.
• Insurance: the host requires you to have health insurance that covers your visit.
• Money: the host warns that a neighbour may occasionally ask a visitor for money and says the right answer is no; your fee already pays the artisan group. Bring cash for the boutique if you want to buy what your hosts make.
• Photos: the artisans don't mind being photographed during the day, pyjamas excepted.
• Pace: you can opt out of any activity at any point and watch instead.

Which one to pick

• First visit, one day: A Day in the Life of an Artisan. It's the broadest day and the cheapest full one apart from cooking.
• You want to take something home you made: candles (US$100) or pottery (US$190).
• Short on time or money, or with small children: the Crafting Workshop, US$15, two hours, under-fives free.
• Interested in food and drink: the cooking day (US$80) or banana juice (US$190).
• You want to sleep in the village: the Home Stay, and pair it with a day experience the next morning.

More on Rwanda: cultural experiences in Kinigi, Nyanza and Huye day trips from Kigali, the imigongo workshop in Kamonyi and cooking classes in and around Kigali.

Prices checked 1 November 2026.