‘Vliegengel’ rises to showbiz challenge

ZENOBIA Moolman has
worked in the travel
industry for more than
30 years and is md of her
own agency, Dash Travel. She
has booked travel for people
in front of and behind the
cameras of documentaries
and reality series such as MTV
meets Akon, MasterChef South
Africa, I’m a Celebrity…Get Me
Out of Here, Power Couple and
My Story. Of all the projects
Zenobia has completed in her
career as an agent, booking
travel for reality show Twende
Kazi was the most difficult.
In November 2013, Zenobia
was approached by Lucky
Bean, producer of reality
series Twende Kazi, which
aired in Kenya and the UK.
The show saw a circle of
friends on a mission to
deliver a Tusker beer to their
homesick friend in London.
It comprised 17 episodes
following 25 teams of four,
including celebrities, athletes
and consumers who relayed
the beer between countries,
starting in Kenya and ending
in the UK.
Zenobia was asked to book
the travel arrangements for a
crew of over 200 and cast of
100 people. The finale was
a live broadcast from London
with the entire cast and crew
present.
Behind the scenes
When meeting with the
production house, she says,
“They had this huge map
hanging on the wall with pins
indicating the countries they
wanted to go to and pieces
of string linking the countries
in the order they wanted to
travel.”
At this meeting, Zenobia,
worked on a route that was
realistically possible. The
journey started in Nairobi,
moved on to Addis Ababa,
then Cairo, across to Morocco,
off to Malaga, Spain then
France and finally London.
“The first thing I did was
work out the budget on a
worst-case scenario basis:
what would be the total cost
of booking an individual ticket
for each person involved in
the show?” Once she knew
how much flights following
the planned route would cost
an individual, Zenobia could
calculate how much she’d
save if she cut a flight on a
specific leg of the route.
The next step was to work
out where alternative modes
of transport – ferries and cars
– could replace flying. During
the initial stages of the relay,
upon completion of their leg,
cast members were flown
home. Once the production
team reached Morocco, it
became more cost-effective to
keep the cast travelling with
the rest of the crew until the
finale, even though they had
completed filming.
And…action!
By February, all of the flights
had been booked, production
began and Zenobia entered
the madness of the movie
world. She was in constant
communication with the
ground handler and line
producer so that together they
could solve any unexpected
problems. “At 05h00 every
morning I had to check
whether the cast had checked
in and if they hadn’t, I’d
immediately call the fixer
[ground handler],” she recalls.
Zenobia sifted through
approximately 200 emails a
day dealing with requests from
cast members. “Sometimes
one person would be more
famous than the other and
would only fly business class,
but to stay within budget,
some celebrities had to fly
economy,” she says, adding
that she had to take care
when booking two celebrities
on the same flight.
Zenobia faced many
challenges throughout the
project, one of them being
booking flights to unusual
destinations in Africa. “One
Olympic athlete was living in
Eldoret because the altitude
was ideal for training – I’d
never heard of Eldoret before.
I used a domestic airline to
get him to Nairobi,” she says.
When planning the trips to
London she had to submit
75 UK visa applications. This
was tricky and time-consuming
to execute as she was
immersed in flight bookings at
the same time. “I paid my son
to help me – he would sit in
his flat and fill out visa forms
and then send them back to
me so I could check them,”
she says.
With limited Internet
connectivity in Africa, WiFi
in some regions was either
non-existent or too weak for
footage to be downloaded and
sent to the broadcaster. She
had to make last-minute flight
bookings so that someone
could deliver a taped episode
to the editors in Entebbe
or Nairobi where there was
sufficient WiFi connectivity.
Reaping the rewards
Although Zenobia says the
work was the hardest thing
she’s ever done in her life,
she describes the experience
as “perfect”. “I was intensely
busy for two months and
then I could relax afterwards.
I made quite a bit of money
because it was a high volume
project.”
As commission earned on
selling airfares is minimal,
she predominantly earned
income on service fees. The
television and film industry is
run by people who work on a
freelance basis, she notes,
so her services have received
a lot of exposure within the
industry. “They’ve nicknamed
me ‘Vliegengel’ and because
most of the producers I’ve
worked with operate on a
contractual basis, they’ve
recommended me as they
go along.”
Currently organising travel
arrangements for a number
of documentaries, Zenobia
says she remains passionate
about the television and film
industry and would definitely
take on another project like
Twende Kazi. “I absolutely
love the adrenaline,” she
says.