WEEK OF MAY 15, 2025
VOLUME 105 | ISSUE 12
$2
An artist’s exploration of a Congo seaport Development dries up park pond
‘Port De Banana’ exhibit coming to museum for May 30 opening
South Platte Park loses wetland due to diversion of stream for townhomes
BY CHANCY J. GATLIN SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
Prior to the 15th century, the Congo River Basin in Central Africa was inhabited almost exclusively by the Bantu people, an expansive sociolinguistic group of nearly 400 culturally-similar tribes. Through the Congo River Basin runs the Congo River, the second largest river in Africa and the ninth longest river in the world. This river runs from the Atlantic Ocean to the border of Zambia. The historic Bantu people relied on the river for their livelihood, depending on the flowing giant for water and food, and as a means of transportation throughout the region. The Congo River Basin saw Portuguese explorers enter the region in the latter half of the 15th century, followed by an influx of traders and settlers in the 18th and 19th centuries. These settlers revolutionized the area, creating a bustling inter-African and cross-sea trading industry. As commerce in the Congo Basin thrived, so did the devastating slave trade. Port De Banana was at the mouth of the Congo River, the last spot slaves stopped before being transported to the Americas along the Atlantic Middle Passage. Congolese-Belgian artist, Lio-Bravo Bumbakini, tells the story of Port De Banana in his upcoming exhibition at the Littleton Museum. “I mix vibrant colors, symbols, archetypes and mythologies with traditionalist African motifs and contemporary Western ideas,” said Bumbakini. “My ‘Port De Banana’ exhibit explores the narratives of life before and after the ‘discovery’ of the Congo from an anthropological and folkloric perspective.” Born in Brussels, Bumbakini immigrated to the United States at 8 years old and currently splits his time between SEE ARTIST, P10
BY ISABEL GUZMAN ISABEL@COTLN.ORG
A wetland pond in South Platte Park in Littleton is dry now because a new home development cut off its water source. The water source that fed the Dad Clark wetland area in South Platte Park was moved due to the development of a new gated community in Littleton, ParkVue on the Platte. It was developed by luxury home builder Toll Brothers in 2024. The homes sit on the west side of Santa Fe Drive, south of Mineral Avenue, near Littleton Equine Medical Center. “The developer had a safety requirement to build a channel to allow the McLellan (Reservoir) spillway to flow to the river without houses being at risk,” Deputy Littleton City Manager Mike Gent said. “(Toll Brothers) proposed a new channel design … that ran north instead of west to keep their neighborhood from being split in half by this channel, and we — South Suburban Parks and Recreation, the City of Littleton and the State of Colorado — agreed to it.” This change redirected the native stream, causing the Dad Clark wetland pond to dry up because its sandy soil couldn’t retain water without the stream. “Rather than use intensive methods like constantly running pumps to maintain this small, quarter-acre pond, it is more sustainable to convert this pond into an intermittent stream channel, rather than try to maintain a fully submerged marsh habitat,” Gent said. Volunteers salvaged several native plant species from the pond that aren’t regionally rare, but don’t grow in other areas of the park. They transplanted them to other ponds that are used for educational purposes, said Gent. Artist Lio-Bravo Bumbakini in front of his painting entitled “Le Zaire.”
VOICES: 12 | LIFE: 18 | CALENDAR: 21
COURTESY PHOTO
SEE PARK POND, P7
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