---
type: Place
title: Juba
description: The capital of South Sudan, filmed on $1,000 of permits — a water stall run by two women aged 18 and 28, a clay fridge that works without power, and seven barbers sharing one pitch.
tags: [south-sudan, juba, markets, street-services, filming-permits, prices, barbers]
coordinates: {lat: 4.8459, lng: 31.5959}
timestamp: 2026-08-05T16:30:00Z
---

# Juba

The capital of [South Sudan](/countries/south-sudan.md), and everything Harry
films in the country. He moves with a bodyguard and a local contact, and holds
**$600 of city filming permits** — which does not stop him being challenged
repeatedly.

His first impressions: extremely hot, very humid, and **everyone is tall.** The
fixer's explanation is that height is tribal and that he himself comes from a
state where people aren't.

*Obs: filming is illegal here without a permit. Harry believes he may be the first
person to document the market on camera, which is why the prices below exist at
all.*

## Prices, as filmed

- **Water: 200** a container, carried on the head. He buys one, tries to carry it
  on his own head, and can't.
- **A local clay fridge: 25,000** — pour water in and it keeps things cold with no
  electricity.
- **A street shave: 2,000.**
- **A football: 8,500**, about $5. He buys one in every country.
- **A tuk-tuk: $4,000**, shipped two months from India.
- **Money**: change on the black market rate, and expect a brick of notes — the
  largest denomination is 1,000.

## The market

- **The water stall is run by two women**, one widowed and one whose husband left.
  They are **18 and 28**. Buying from one seller immediately produces a queue of
  others.
- **The phone market** sells mostly used handsets. A 6'5" trader tells him life is
  hard and expensive and that he is hustling; asked what his dream is, he says he
  wants to be successful.
- **The barbers.** Seven men working one pitch with a comb, scissors and half a
  mirror between them, doing around **ten shaves a day each**. Harry's shave is
  the first he has had where the blade is used freehand, with no razor holder.
- **Earnings**, as given to him: maybe 10,000 to 20,000 on a good day, shared
  among the group, against **$50 at roughly 75,000** *(from video – unverified —
  the numbers are garbled)*.

## Filming here

- **He is stopped and told off**, permits and all, because of the particular area
  he was in.
- **A driver winds down a tinted window** specifically to tell him he can't film,
  while he is filming himself.
- **Convoys, UN vehicles and army personnel** are everywhere and entirely off
  limits.

## Harry's tips

- **Budget for the permits before anything else** — $600 for the city, $400 to
  film with a tribe.
- **Use the black market rate**, and bring a bag for the notes.
- **Expect the permit not to settle it.** Having paid does not stop people
  objecting, and his response is to stop filming rather than argue.
- **Overpay the water sellers.** He does, deliberately, and explains on camera why
  he can afford to: the sponsor and membership money he gives away isn't really
  his.

## Source

- [Nobody Visits this Country - Find Out Why 🇸🇸](/videos/fsTJ7XYw0g0.md) —
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsTJ7XYw0g0