Harare: Western visitors to Zimbabwe are snapping up old, defunct Zimbabwe bank notes, preferring them to some traditional African curios and souvenirs of the nation's famed stone sculpture.
Most sought after is the one hundred trillion Zimbabwe dollar bill, the highest denomination when the currency was abandoned nearly two years ago and the American dollar became legal tender.
It sells for up to $5, depending on its condition.
"It's perfect if you like puzzles, calculus and things like Rubik's Cube," she said.
Janice Waas said Westerners were buying the bills for their curiosity value. An Australian wanted one to display in his local bar back home.
Visitors from countries familiar with hyperinflation, such as the Congo and other impoverished states in the region and in South America, showed less interest in the highly marked bills. Instead, most bought curios and artifacts, said vendor Lloyd Phiri, speaking on his mobile phone in Victoria Falls.
Teachers reported the printing of bank notes from millions to billions and then trillions skewed their pupils' sense of numeracy, making them fail to grasp the realities of numbers.
Back then in 2008, 700 million Zimbabwe dollars bought a loaf of bread.
During the worst of Zimbabwe's economic meltdown and hyperinflation, Zimbabwe's highest money denominations were logged at 10 to the power of 25 -- 10 followed by 25 zeros -- or the equivalent of nearly one third of the number of atoms estimated in the universe.
The central bank then sliced off several zeros, but large transactions were still calculated in quadrillions (15 zeros) and quintillions (18 zeros) until the demise of the local currency.
If you are delayed at an airport during your Zimbabwe trip, play the numbers game, advises Waas, the physicist.
He posed this challenge.
"If the pyramids in Egypt are 5,000 years old, there are 155 billion seconds in 5,000 years and 1,000 billion make a trillion. So how many years are there in 100 trillion seconds?" he said.
Waas said he was still waiting for the correct answer from friends and fellow visitors in Zimbabwe.
Most sought after is the one hundred trillion Zimbabwe dollar bill, the highest denomination when the currency was abandoned nearly two years ago and the American dollar became legal tender.
It sells for up to $5, depending on its condition.
"It's perfect if you like puzzles, calculus and things like Rubik's Cube," she said.
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Janice Waas said Westerners were buying the bills for their curiosity value. An Australian wanted one to display in his local bar back home.
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Visitors from countries familiar with hyperinflation, such as the Congo and other impoverished states in the region and in South America, showed less interest in the highly marked bills. Instead, most bought curios and artifacts, said vendor Lloyd Phiri, speaking on his mobile phone in Victoria Falls.
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Teachers reported the printing of bank notes from millions to billions and then trillions skewed their pupils' sense of numeracy, making them fail to grasp the realities of numbers.
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Back then in 2008, 700 million Zimbabwe dollars bought a loaf of bread.
Advertisement
During the worst of Zimbabwe's economic meltdown and hyperinflation, Zimbabwe's highest money denominations were logged at 10 to the power of 25 -- 10 followed by 25 zeros -- or the equivalent of nearly one third of the number of atoms estimated in the universe.
The central bank then sliced off several zeros, but large transactions were still calculated in quadrillions (15 zeros) and quintillions (18 zeros) until the demise of the local currency.
If you are delayed at an airport during your Zimbabwe trip, play the numbers game, advises Waas, the physicist.
He posed this challenge.
"If the pyramids in Egypt are 5,000 years old, there are 155 billion seconds in 5,000 years and 1,000 billion make a trillion. So how many years are there in 100 trillion seconds?" he said.
Waas said he was still waiting for the correct answer from friends and fellow visitors in Zimbabwe.
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