(FORTUNE Magazine) – Even the most alpha CEO needs to hand over the reins once in a while. For 2003, Mountain Travel Sobek asked nine of its top guides to choose their favorite places and take along a group. They're called Follow the Leader trips, and they include an eight-day llama trek through the Southwestern U.S. (from $2,590), a nine-day hike through the Pyrenees (from $2,990), and 15 days of kayaking around northeastern Madagascar (from $3,990). Guide Alberto Nicheli will be leading a group to Niger (above), deep in the Sahara, emphasizing visits with the Tuareg and Wodaabe people (24 days, from $4,990). "The trip will be an exercise in patience and flexibility," it says in the materials, "requiring a roll-with-the-punches attitude." Something that, in this day and age, every chief executive is likely to have. --E.T.

Mountain Travel Sobek 888-687-6235 or 510-527-8100; www.mtsobek.com