Power couple takes up the reigns at Blood River

With all the depressing news one reads these days, from road closures to death, it is refreshing to meet a couple bubbling with positive ideas and passion.

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Anton and Judean Jansen van Vuuren, the new curator couple at the Blood River Museum and Heritage Site, are that couple.
While they are only into their fifth month at the iconic site – situated some 45 kilometres from Dundee – Anton and Judean love every minute of it, despite it being a world away from their previous home, in the hustle and bustle of Pretoria. Judean was a financial manager for a large company, while Anton was always involved in retail management and sales.
“We were both involved in the Federasie van Afrikaanse kulture (FAK), but the city life, the travelling, the noise, the people, was all just getting us down. We have three grown-up children – two boys and a girl and a grandson – and felt it was time for a change,” said Judean.
And change they did.

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It was by accident that Judean saw the Blood River Museum’s vacancy advert and she and Anton decided there and then they would apply for the position. “We looked at it as an adventure. We first went to look at the site before accepting the offer, but it did not take us a minute to know it was the place where we wanted to be.”
Reporting to the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria, Anton and Judean said their remit was to make the Blood River Museum profitable once again.

“The site has been through a rough patch of late and we need to get the wagon through this drift, as it were,” said Anton.
They have already come on board with the Battlefields Route Committee, which promotes battlefield tourism throughout Northern KwaZulu-Natal, and are also impressed with the recent bid by Tourism Dundee to look at alternative attractions to bring visitors to the area.

“We are excited about possible bicycle and hiking trails, 4×4 routes and we are also looking at country and western music festivals in the big hall at the site.”

The potjiekos competition on September 24 will hopefully attract those who are not necessarily interested in history.
The restaurant, offering traditional home cooked fare, also has the potential to ‘do more’ and Anton himself is no slouch in the kitchen, liking nothing more than rustling up a chicken schnitzel.
“We are averaging around 500 to 600 visitors a month, with school groups a big part of this. We are proud that in our first month, the site made a profit for the first time in two years.”
Anton and Judean have a staff of 12 with one member, Miriam, having over 40 years of service.

“We have 152 campsites [all with power access] with recreational facilities such as table tennis, darts etc. We are also keen to put in a swimming pool.” The couple said the aim was to make Blood River more than just a historic site.

They hoped to attract many other kinds of people to the museum, to enjoy the facilities and restaurant and if they wanted to, learn more about the area’s history and culture.
“Security is not a problem and the tranquil surroundings make it the ideal getaway spot. One of the more exciting prospects is the arrival in September of Johan Badenhorst and his Voetspore TV crew, which should be fantastic publicity for the site and museum. We would be honoured to have locals out here to see for themselves what is on their doorstep. We would love to part of the broader community and look forward to meeting everyone who comes to visit,” concluded Judean.
For details on the Blood River Museum and Heritage Site, call 034 632 1695/ 074 266 3025 or visit www.bloedrivier.org.za

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