Out of Africa

Posted by Jeff Zeleny at 4:09 p.m. CDT

N'DJAMENA, Chad – Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) flew out of this central African capital early today, bound for Frankfurt, Germany. He was scheduled to arrive in Chicago this afternoon.

In a two-week trip to Africa, he visited the countries of South Africa, Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Chad. A side trip to Congo was cancelled at the request of the U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa, which was consumed with the violent fallout of the presidential elections.

As he returned from touring the Miles Refugee Camp in eastern Chad yesterday, he reflected on the trip in an interview with reporters. He spoke over the loud buzzing of a United Nations propeller-driven airplane.

"Visiting Nelson Mandela's cell," he said, "was a highlight for me personally."

To Obama, the reaction to taking an AIDS test with his wife, Michelle, in Kisumu, Kenya, also was among the most notable moments of his trip.

"It was a small gesture," he said, "that could actually save some lives."

So what's the next foreign trip he'd like to take?

"Should we get a chance to travel next year," Obama said, "I'm very interested in going to China and Indonesia, where ironically I have more of a childhood connection than I do to Kenya."

(He spent time in Indonesia as a boy, after his mother temporarily moved from Hawaii.)

While the senator's journey to Africa received a considerable amount of attention – few congressional delegation trips have press contingents that swell, at least at one point, up to two-dozen – here are a few final items from the notebook.

Cell phones can be more reliable in third-world villages than in parts of the U.S.

"In some of the remote areas of Africa, cell phone service is better than in Southern Illinois," Obama said, noting with disgust that "something is wrong" when his phone works better on the Masai Mara game preserve in rural Kenya than in Downstate Illinois.

"All of Africa," he said, "is essentially avoiding land-based phones."

(Blackberries didn't always work so well, but text messaging worked like a charm virtually every place but Ethiopia.)

U.S. troops stationed in Djibouti play a better game of basketball than a visiting senator

"Not to make any excuses, but I was awful," Obama said, noting that a combination of three hours sleep and 100-degree heat impacted his game. "

Gasoline is a precious – and scarce – resource

The senator had just arrived in Kisumu, Kenya – the first stop on a homecoming visit to his grandmother's house – and the motorcade took off at a furious pace. The caravan grew longer by the minute, picking up random cars, pickup trucks and even motor scooters along the way.

A ramshackle bus carrying reporters, photographers and even two documentary film crews was falling behind. The engine sputtered. The gas gauge said empty. So as the motorcade proceeded, the bus pulled into a gas station.

A furious Robert Gibbs, Obama's communications director, bounded out the door with local currency in his hand. He walked to the gas pumps and stood watch as the driver began filling the tank on the bus, which had the name "Sampson" painted on the front.

By now, the press had become separated from the senator in a chaotic crowd of thousands. At the time, it was far from amusing.

It did, however, evoke a memory of a previous night in Pretoria, South Africa, when a taxi also ran out of gas and Gibbs and others suddenly found themselves pushing a white van – in the dark – toward the nearest gas station.

Only in Africa.