The team
The OVERCROSS team
Whoever leads a region for us has ridden it themselves. Here are the people behind the trips, their story and their tours.
- 17
- people on the team
- 83
- countries ridden ourselves
- 8
- languages
- 2,150,000
- kilometres ridden
- 730
- expeditions led
- 165
- tours on offer
The team
Everyone who makes an OVERCROSS trip happen: who leads it, who plans it, who builds it. Sorted by department.
Guides & tour leaders 9
-
Founder & Creative Engine of Overcross
Joe Küster
"Jack of all trades, almost all!" The driving force and idea machine behind Overcross.
- Africa
- Egypt
- Angola
- Ethiopia
- +38
"Jack of all trades" and founder of the company.
Since 2025 he has worked behind the scenes of the OVERCROSS team as an influential and independent personality.
What I do here
-
Since xxxx: Instructor for emergency personnel in the field of climate zones
-
Since 2005: Certified IHK instructor
-
Since 2008: Organisation of TV and film productions in the B2B sector
-
Since 2016: Development of software for CRM, tourism and logistics
Read the whole story Show less
The past
At 30 my career as a pencil sharpener ended, followed by 22 years of adrenaline addiction.
The drug OVERCROSS promised me a daily dose of dopamine and pulled me into the adventures of tomorrow.
From a mere addict I soon became a supplier of dopamine and adrenaline myself.
Looking back, after more than a million kilometres through the bush, jungle and deserts of this world, always in search of adventure, I can count myself lucky:
I got to live an incredibly intense working life with participants and companions along the way, one that shapes me to this day.
Today I would like to ask my own good fairy for something, too.
After this intense and eventful working life, I now find the time and calm to enjoy quiet, warm moments together with my wife.
Defining experiences in my life
- Crossing the Sahara solo, on a BMW 1100 GS with a total weight of 450 kilos
- An "acquaintance" with Hezbollah, an Israeli air strike and tea with the FIS
- Under arrest in Egypt, Lebanon and Algeria
- A hell ride at over 300 km/h, on the bike through the Sahara and Lebanon
- NYC Marathon, living in Harlem
- Experience in the bush, climate zone training, one full-throttle run straight across Africa.
- The birth of Luke "Skywalker", "Knight" Rian and "Princess" Rani.
- Meeting Kurt Rebmann, Officer Hellmut von Leipzig and his wife
- Driver training with the "Double Zero"
- The conversation with a nomad in the Sahara, who asked about the time he had gained
- Dealing with, and losing, a narcissist
- Illness, accident, time to say goodbye
This is the adventure I still want to experience in the next five years
OVERCROSS:
The last expeditions in the worldPrivate:
The fortune of experiencing love at my sideWhen I am no longer allowed to travel
...I will enjoy life with my great love at my side in Pliezhausen, Cape Town and Guatiza, and cheer on the OVERCROSSis from the back office ;-)
My tours
- Trans-Africa GO WEST: The Long Way down Motorcycle Expedition
- Go South! The Pharaoh Enduro Expedition
- Enduro Motorcycle Tour: Libya Desert Challenge
- Western Alps: Liguria Motorcycle Adventure
- Trans-Africa 4x4 Expedition Western Route
- SOUTH AFRICA 4x4 Tour - Offroad Family and Friends Tour - Lodge Safari
- The Heart of Africa Motorcycle Expedition
- Trans-Africa Motorcycle Expedition Go South! Egypt to Namibia
- Pure Offroad in Tunisia: Tracking the Sahara
- Tunisia: 4x4 Tour into the Sahara over New Year's Eve
- 30
- years guiding
- 140
- expeditions completed
- 45
- countries visited
Tours
- Africa Motorcycle Expedition: TransAfrica GO WEST
- TransAfrica 4x4 Expedition on the West Route
- Motorcycle travel West Africa: Togo & Benin - Villages & Voodoo
- Self-drive 4x4 safari in Namibia and Botswana
Languages German, English
More about Joe -
Head of Motorcycle Tours & Tour Guide Central Asia
Georg Winterberger
Runs the motorcycle-tour programme and personally leads the toughest routes across Central Asia.
- Kyrgyzstan
- Kazakhstan
- Uzbekistan
- Tajikistan
- +6
Georg is responsible for the entire motorcycle-tour programme at Overcross - and yet he's happiest where there's the least tarmac: in Central Asia. He knows the Pamir Highway, the passes of Kyrgyzstan and the vastness of the Kazakh steppe from dozens of trips.
As head of the programme he keeps many tours on track; as a guide he's in the saddle himself. That double role makes him the calm centre of the team: he knows what a tour needs in detail because he rides it to the end himself.
Read the whole story Show less
Altitude, cold, endless tracks - where others reach their limits, that's where the real appeal begins for Georg. And he has the rare gift of passing that enthusiasm on to a whole group.
- 18
- years guiding
- 160
- expeditions completed
- 30
- countries visited
Tours
- Kyrgyzstan Offroad Trip - 4x4 Adventure with Rental Car
- Offroad adventures from the Gobi to the Orkhon waterfall.
- Motorcycle Travel Mongolia - Adventure through Steppe and Desert
- Motorcycle trip Georgia: Enduro through savannah & Caucasus
Languages German, English, Russian
More about Georg -
Motorcycle Tour Guide France
Kai Jahnke
"The Polar Bear": motorcycle tour guide for France and resident legal eagle, working behind the scenes since 2005.
- France
The Polar Bear
Motorcycle tour guide for France and resident legal eagle. In charge of law & order, I have preferred to work behind the scenes since 2005, keeping Joe on a tight rein.True to the motto "carrots for the staff and the stick for the boss", we head towards new adventures every day and have a lot of fun doing it.
-
Tour Guide Western Alps & India
Nitin Ullal
On the road with Joe since 2011; 10,000 Western Alps kilometres later, now riding a Royal Enfield across India.
- India
- Switzerland
- Italy
- France
My first tours with Joe (2011) were in Switzerland and Germany, bend after bend, until the tyres had no tread left ;-)
Over the years I kept trying to talk Joe and a few other riders into a Western Alps tour. After many years of friendship and 10,000 Western Alps kilometres later, we have had more than one legendary Western Alps tour! Today I have ridden beyond the Western Alps and am now on tour in India on a Royal Enfield, from one highlight to the next.Read the whole story Show less
This is where the adventure is, and I would be glad to have you along. See you in India!
-
Tour Guide Nepal & Northern India
Otto Dinkelacker
Tourminator for Nepal and Northern India, the go-to person for mountain tours and adventure trekking.
- Nepal
- India
"The go-to person for mountain tours and adventure trekking in Southeast Asia. And for motorcycling, of course, preferably in countries without traffic rules!"
At Overcross, Otto looks after our trips to Nepal and Northern India. If you want to ride the Himalayas or combine a tour with a few days of trekking in the mountains, you can take your questions straight to him: about the route, the altitude, the best time to travel and what the roads there have in store for you.
-
Tour Guide Romania
Hans Paul Buchfellner
At home in the Carpathians - leads Overcross groups over Romania's finest passes and tracks.
- Romania
- Bulgaria
- Serbia
- Balkan
- +4
Romania is Hans Paul's territory - and anyone who has ridden the Transfăgărășan or the lonely tracks of the Carpathians with him understands why he has stayed loyal to the country. He knows the switchbacks, the shepherds' paths and the little guesthouses where no one speaks English in the evening and everyone laughs anyway.
Read the whole story Show less
As a tour guide he leads groups with a mix of calm and dry humour that makes hard stages easier. He rides up front when it matters and at the back when someone needs time.
For Hans Paul, a good tour isn't one where everything goes smoothly, but one where the group has grown together by the end. That's exactly what he pulls off, trip after trip.
- 11
- years guiding
- 95
- expeditions completed
- 8
- countries visited
Tours
- Carpathians 4x4 Tour - Offroad Comfort Trip Romania
- Luxury Premium Tour through the Carpathians - Romania
- 4x4 Snowmobile Experience Trip through the Carpathians, Romania
- Guided Winter Tour Offroad Trip in the Carpathians - Romania
Languages German, English
More about Hans Paul -
Product Manager and Tour Leader South America
Eduardo Nogueira
“The guests do the riding.” The product manager behind our South America tours, and the man who is there when they run.
- Tunisia
- China
- Germany
- France
- +13
I have worked in tourism for fourteen years, building products for South America. One thing I'll say straight away, because somebody would find out sooner or later: I don't ride a motorcycle myself and I'm not behind a wheel either. My work starts long before the first stage and it only stops once the group is home again.
Read the whole story Show less
Whether it is motorcycle travel, a 4x4 expedition or a mountaineering expedition, none of it is made out on the track. It is made in months of preparation. I pick the partners on the ground, negotiate the terms, check the permits and put the stages together so that they actually work in the season they are sold for. If a route in April and the same route in October are two different tours, that belongs in the programme and should not come as a surprise halfway through.
So I talk to the people a tour like this really depends on: the workshops, the drivers, the cooks, the places we sleep and the authorities. Spanish and Portuguese alongside German and English are not a line on my CV, they are the tool. One phone call in the local language settles in a few hours what an email takes three weeks to do.
I don't stay at my desk for that, though. I go along with groups on the ground and look after how the tour runs, the accommodation and the incidents that always come up out there. The guests do the riding. I'm the one making sure that in the evening everything is where it should be, and the one who knows who to call when it isn't.
At altitude one thing counts above all, the pace and the break. Above 4,000 metres it is not riding technique that decides how a day ends, it is the planning beforehand: when a group acclimatises, how long a stage really takes and where the break belongs. That is my part of the work and I take it seriously.
South America is my main ground, but it is not the whole of my work. I also build products for Europe and I look after our mountaineering expeditions in Peru, in Bolivia and across the rest of the Andean region. In mountaineering there is even less room for guesswork at the planning stage: acclimatisation, weather windows, hut capacity and the qualification of the mountain guides decide whether a group reaches the top or does not. What I have set myself for the coming years is simple: build tours that still deliver what the programme promises when the wind has been in your face for three days.
- 14
- years guiding
Tours
- 4x4 expedition to Libya
- Libya Sahara Enduro Tour: Desert Challenge
- Enduro Tour Tunisia: Ride the Sahara Desert
- New Year's Eve Motorcycle Trip Tunisia: Sahara Countdown
Languages German, English, Spanish, Portuguese
More about Eduardo -
Tour Manager Europe
Maya Schiessler
Plans and leads Overcross tours across Europe - from Sardinia to the North Cape.
- Italy
- Spain
- France
- Greece
- +8
Europe is easy to underestimate - until you've been out with Maya. She plans and leads the Overcross tours of the continent and proves that the finest roads are sometimes only a day away: in the Alps, on Sardinia, in the mountains of the Balkans or up at the North Cape.
As tour manager she holds both ends: the planning at the desk and the group on the road. She writes the roadbooks, hunts down the passes with the best corners, and on difficult days she is calm itself.
Read the whole story Show less
What her guests value most is the feeling that everything has been thought of - and that there's still room for the unexpected.
- 10
- years guiding
- 130
- expeditions completed
- 20
- countries visited
Tours
- Sardinia 4x4 Offroad SUV Trip
- Offroad motorcycle trip Sardinia - Enduro Italy
- A guided motorcycle tour through Sardinia with rental motorcycle
- Family and Friends: Off Road Adventure
Languages German, English, Spanish, Italian
More about Maya -
Russia Specialist
Moritz Dietrich
Russia: so close and yet so far. After seven years in the country, the urge to discover more keeps growing.
- Russia
Russia: so close and yet so far. European, and yet completely hard to fathom. And so much more than just Red Square and the Kremlin. Those are the impressions that stay with you when you spend a longer time in the country.
After 7 years I have seen quite a lot, but the urge to keep discovering and exploring grows all the time. And again and again the same realisation: "Well, that's something I haven't experienced yet."
Product & planning 4
-
Coordinator Motorcycle Tours Southeast Asia
Roland Spruijtenburg
Coordinator for motorcycle tours in Indonesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.
- Indonesia
- Philippines
- Sri Lanka
A passionate motorcyclist, he cannot imagine life without motorcycles. Since 2007 he has been truly fascinated by Southeast Asia, and he shares this passion with adventurers through motorcycle journeys. He is our coordinator for motorcycle tours in Indonesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.
-
Product Manager 4x4 Offroad Tours
Christian Gunkel
Builds the 4x4 offroad expeditions of Overcross - where the road ends, his programme begins.
- Morocco
- Namibia
- Mongolia
- Island
- +2
When there are four wheels in play at Overcross instead of two, that's Christian's world. As product manager for 4x4 offroad tours he builds the operator's overland expeditions - from desert crossings to overlanding routes through remote regions.
He thinks in recovery ropes, tyre pressures and water supplies where others only see the landscape. He checks every route for what matters: is it really doable with the vehicle, and what happens if something goes wrong?
- 13
- years guiding
- 105
- expeditions completed
- 20
- countries visited
Tours
- Guided 4x4 off-road trip through Morocco at Easter
- Guided Motorcycle Tour through Morocco from Marrakesh
- Motorcycle Expedition from Marrakech to Dakar
- Gladiator 4x4 Overlanding through Morocco
Languages German, English
More about Christian -
Product Manager Asia
Pravin Rohra
Indian by birth, German by degree. Builds the journeys across Asia and knows the remote tracks as well as he knows product management.
- India
- Nepal
- Mongolia
- Kyrgyzstan
- +8
For Pravin, Asia is not a market on a map but a collection of worlds: the high plateaus of the Pamir, the rice terraces of Vietnam, the deserts of Central Asia and the passes of the Himalaya. As product manager for the Asian region, he turns them into journeys that are more than a string of sights.
He knows the region first hand, maintains the relationships with local partners and plans routes that hold up at altitude and far from anywhere.
Read the whole story Show less
What draws him is the contrast. A tour crosses desert in the morning and a four thousand metre pass in the evening, and the guests are not the same people at the end as they were at the start.
A route does not come together at a desk. He checks the tracks, the places to stay and the supplies along the way, and paces the stages so there is time to acclimatise between the climb and the arrival. Where reliable infrastructure is missing, he replaces it with people on the ground he has known for years.
What is deliberately not on the programme matters just as much: the stop at a tea house, the detour over a pass with no name, the conversation with a family at the roadside. Those moments are the difference between travelling through Asia and travelling in Asia.
- 14
- years guiding
- 100
- expeditions completed
- 22
- countries visited
Tours
- Royal Enfield Gujarat Motorcycle Trip
- India Motorcycle Tours: Royal Enfield Motorcycle Tour Rajasthan
- India Royal Maharaja Luxury Journey
- Himalaya Motorcycle Trip Umling La - Ladakh Enduro
Languages German, English
More about Pravin -
Product Manager Africa
Maik Schneider
Knows Africa's tracks, border posts and rainy seasons - and which route actually works.
- Morocco
- Tunisia
- Mauritania
- Senegal
- +5
Africa isn't a destination you plan on the side - it wants to be understood. Maik knows the tracks, the border posts and the rainy seasons, and he knows which route looks good in the brochure and which one actually works.
From the dunes of Morocco and Mauritania to the far south, he puts together the Overcross tours of the continent. He takes care of the invisible things: permits, reliable local partners, fuel and water in places where both are scarce.
Read the whole story Show less
For Maik, riding sand isn't an obstacle but the best part of the day. That enthusiasm is in every Africa trip that carries his name.
Technology & media 4
-
Social Media, Design, Video & SEO
Nikita Dashchenko
The "chick of Overcross" - tells our adventures in image, video and search engine.
Nikita is the "chick of Overcross" - the youngest on the team and the voice that carries our adventures to the outside world. What others experience, he makes visible: in images, in videos, in stories that make you want to ride out again.
From the social media story to the travel film to the search engine, Nikita makes sure people find Overcross - and find themselves in it. He edits, designs, writes and optimises, usually with one ear on the next trend.
Languages German, English, Russian
More about Nikita -
Head of Development / Lead Programmer
Hryhorii Sukhikh
Leads the development behind Overcross - from booking to landing page.
For a tour to be booked, a landing page to be found and an enquiry to be answered, a lot has to run smoothly behind the scenes. That's Hryhorii's territory: as lead developer he owns the systems, interfaces and databases that keep Overcross running.
He builds the tools the team works with every day, connects booking, website and internal processes, and automates whatever can be automated - and he sets the direction the technology takes. Invisible when everything goes well, and that's the whole point.
Languages German, English, Russian
More about Hryhorii -
Software Developer & Representative for the Arab World
Fares Felhi
Software developer on the Overcross team and Overcross's representative for the Arab world, fluent in Arabic, French and English.
What I do here
I'm a software developer on the Overcross team, and also the face of Overcross for the Arab world. I build features, find bugs before guests notice them, and make the website faster and better, step by step.My role for the Arab world
I speak Arabic, French and English, and I'm the direct point of contact for Arabic-speaking guests and partners. I represent Overcross in all communication with the Arab region, so language is never a barrier.Read the whole story Show less
Experience
Trained at the Esprit School of Engineering, with hands-on experience from projects and internships at Tunisie Telecom and Ooredoo. These roles sharpened both my technical skills and my instinct for international communication.About me
I'm passionate about computer science and artificial intelligence, love creating new things, and see myself as a bridge between Overcross and the Arab world, both technically and culturally.Languages English, French, Arabic
More about Fares -
Travel Writer
Joachim von Loeben
Writes about travel, sabbaticals and time out; his travel books are illustrated with his own photographs.
I write about travel, sabbaticals and time out, and about questions of personal development. My travel books are illustrated with my own photographs.
I am currently planning a book about my most bizarre journeys...For many people, a long journey is the reason to finally take time out. That is exactly what my work is about: how you plan such a break, what it does to you and how you find your way back into everyday life afterwards.
Read the whole story Show less
If you would like to know more about my work on sabbaticals: www.joachim-vonloeben.de
What guests say about the team
-
Traveling with Joe means being in the best hands. He knows every trail, every dealer and every shortcut, and he stays calm even when two motorcycles break down at the same time. This was the best trip of my life, no exaggeration.
-
Eduardo took us through passes that aren't mentioned in any travel guide. His calmness at high altitudes and his sense for the right moment to take a break made the tour possible for me. A tour guide you can trust blindly.
-
Pravin plans for the altitude before it becomes a problem. We ascended slowly enough that everyone could really enjoy the Pamir. This foresight distinguishes a good organizer from a great one.
Ride with us?
Tell us where you want to go. The person who knows the region answers personally.
Send request
How did you
hear about us?
