The Ventura Team - cut and low res

About Us

Our team and our passion

Our passion

Polartours is an Expedition Cruise Specialist for trips to Antarctica and the Arctic. We partner with over 20 operators to bring you a huge range of expedition cruises, ranging from Greenland to the Falkland Islands, from Svalbard to the Antarctica. We take great pride in our unrivalled knowledge of the ships, itineraries and their philosophy of sustainable traveling.

We have no preferred operators, which means that we will gladly advise against one ship and for another, if we feel that this will enhance your experience and match your interest, budget or level of fitness better.

Meet Benno, the founder of Polartours. Benno's great passion is traveling and online marketing. After travelling to Polar regions several times, Benno wanted to make it easier for everyone to choose their own journey. Together with his team, he created a platform that allows travelers to compare and book Polar Cruises easily. But this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Our expert team of travel specialists strive to understand each ship's philosophy in detail and pride themselves on their extensive knowledge of the destinations. We are experts in our field and want to share our wealth of knowledge with you to enhance your polar experience.

A Polar Cruise: For most a once-in-a-lifetime experience

A cruise to the Arctic or Antarctica is not something you book without having done extensive research. We understand the importance of your investment and that, for many of our clients, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

This is why we give a best-price guarantee: Should you find a better price for the same route anywhere else, let us know, and we will outmatch it. This way, you will never pay more than if you booked with the operator directly. In addition, we also have excellent rates for any arrangements you'd like to make around your cruise including flights, accommodation and land tours.

And the best thing: Your trip is an investment into sustainable tourism. All our ships follow strict ecological guidelines and, out of our own pocket, we chose to compensate 100% of the CO2-Emissions created by your voyage.

Our promises to you

Free Hotel Night Before Tour
Enjoy a free hotel night before your cruise, removing arrival risk and last-minute stress.
Polar Expedition Specialists
We focus exclusively on polar expeditions, with recommendations grounded in first-hand expertise.
Travel for good
Every booking directly supports our rainforest conservation project

The team

All of our team has a passion for South America. But do not take our word for it: get to know their team and their descriptions, so you can see how much passion our travel specialists and tour guides have for this continent. You truly are in good hands!

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Benno Schmidt

Founder of Galapatours, Polartours and Rivertours

Travel addict, polyglot, and paragliding fanatic

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Benno is a true travel enthusiast known for his remote work lifestyle. He has journeyed across the globe and speaks five languages. Benno discovered the Galápagos in 2014 and instantly fell in love with small ship expedition cruising. Since then, he has founded Galapatours, Polartours, and DiveIndonesia. In his free time, Benno is an avid diver and paraglider.

Bruna Garcia

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Bruna Garcia

Polar Specialist

From Brazil, nature and city lover

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Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Bruna is passionate about nature and animals. She loves to communicate with people and create meaningful bonds. She graduated in International Relations and is a Travel Specialist at Polartours. For her planning a new trip is always a good idea.

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Celia Smith

Travel Specialist Polartours

Avid runner & chocolate lover

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Celia is a sales specialist for Polartours. Raised in Belgium, she escaped the Nordic cold and now lives in sunny Lisbon. Running on the beach or in the forest, baking sweets, scuba diving & travelling to unusual places are part of her many passions. Nature-lover and explorer at heart, she is down for any adventure and has a great sense of humor. Fun fact, she also has a twin sister, so pay extra attention!

Kevin Morgan, Natural Explorer

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Kevin Morgan

Polartours Embassador

The Natural Explorer

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Kevin has worked for many years as a wildlife guide on expedition cruise ships and is well known for his infectious enthusiasm. He has explored the Natural World from tropical to temperate seas, and has a particular passion for the polar regions, first visiting Antarctica in 1995, the Arctic in 2010, and many times since. A keen birdwatcher since childhood, he has a particular passion for seabirds, amassing a lot of experience over the years. He has also built up considerable experience of observing marine mammals, and where to look for them, observing over 80 species. Based on his experience at sea he was also behind the concept of Sealife - A Complete Guide to the Marine Environment, persuading the artist to illustrate dolphins from above, as they are seen when bow riding. In addition to work on cruise ships, he was a resident naturalist in Tambopata area of the Peruvian Amazon in the 80’s. This really enhanced his naturalist skills in the very diverse but challenging ‘hidden realm’ of the rainforest, and, always wanting to make a difference, he went on to be a founder of the Tambopata Reserve Society. He has now experienced most rainforest regions, from chimps and gorillas in Uganda, to Orangutans on the island of Borneo. In the UK he carries out wildlife surveys (bats, bird, reptiles & amphibians), lectures on his travels, and has led wildlife walking tours. He has an Oceanography masters, is a member of the Marine Conservation Society and, with a passion for sharks, is a founder member of The Shark Trust. A fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, he is an experienced sub-aqua diver and free-diver.

Andre Kiwitz

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Andre Kiwitz

CEO & Founder

Authentic Travel & Modern Entrepreneurship

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Andre founded Viventura - the first Ventura TRAVEL brand - while still a student out of a desire to make trips more fun and show travelers the real South America. On the ground there, he set up different offices that took care of travel organization, trip development and customer service. He moved back to Berlin in 2012 and, three years later, he founded Ventura TRAVEL. Since then, he has been supporting tourism professionals who have a passion for a specific tourism niche to build their brands within Ventura. Through this construct, these "intrapreneurs" develop their vision for their destinations, while having an experienced team with professional infrastructure on the background for areas such as finance, marketing, IT, and HR. Privately, Andre enjoys spending time with his wife and son and tries to eat good ceviche as often as possible.

Cristina Presura

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Cristina Presura

Brand Director Epic Trips

Curious traveler with a big love for local flavors & off-the-beaten-path adventures

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Cristina leads Epic Trips, Ventura Travel’s AI-powered travel brand, redefining personalized travel. With a background in business development, partnerships, and strategy, she brings a global perspective and loves reimagining how travellers explore the world. Cristina has lived in Austria, Portugal, Germany, Kenya, South Africa, and Spain, speaks four languages, and loves discovering new destinations through their food, local culture, nature, and yoga.

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Erick Feijoo

Integrator, Head of Business Operations

U.S.-born, Ecuadorian bred, Berliner by choice

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Erick works from our Berlin office as Integrator and oversees our company's business operations. From a very early age, he's been fascinated by new languages and cultures, and he especially enjoys getting to know countries' politics and history. Erick's family is from Ecuador and Peru, and he previously worked on economic development issues across different Latin American countries. He joined Ventura TRAVEL after working in Washington D.C., Germany, Belgium, and Costa Rica.

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Hanna Bishop

Add-Ons Coordinator

Born in Germany with English roots and Peruvian heart

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Hanna works from the Cusco office in Peru and is responsible for creating attractive add-ons that complement our customers' trips. After studying tourism in Spain, she traveled to Peru for the first time to complete an internship with a tour operator for a year. Since then, South America has never left her. She immediately felt at home in Peru and fell in love with the country and its people. Her internship time was not long enough to get to know the diversity of South America. As a result, she decided to stay and started working in tourism.

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Kim Poissant

Customer Success Director

Adventurer at heart

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Ever since she can remember, Kim was driven by a natural curiosity that brought her to new places and cultures. Always searching for the unknown, she has lived and worked in Germany, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama and the Canary Islands, before she finally settled down in France. Despite her adventurous heart, Kim loves when things are in order. As part of the Ventura team she can live out her two sides: organization geek and passionate adventurer.

Alfredo Ortegon

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Alfredo Ortegón

IT Developer

Always learning, always exploring, and always hungry

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Fredo is a tech-enthusiast with a never-ending thirst for knowledge. When he's not behind a computer screen, you can find him exploring nature on his mountain bike or indulging in his love for food. Fredo brings a positive and energetic attitude to the workplace.

Ana LLerena

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Ana Llerena

Flights Specialist

Lover of knowing, savoring, and cooking international cuisine

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Ana was born in La Paz- Bolivia and also works from La Paz office, she loves working with flights and reservations giving her best in taking care of her costumers, so they can have an excellent and pleasant air trip without inconveniences.

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Ana Caceres

HR Specialist

Family, friends and chocolate

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Born in Medellín, raised in Bogotá and Santa Marta. Ana is the HR coordinator for our office in Medellín. She has been an entrepreneur for most of her working life. She has a communication degree and her passion is to help others. She enjoys traveling to tropical places and loves the Caribbean. Ana is very family oriented and enjoys spending quality time with her family and friends. She enjoys cooking all kinds of food and watching movies. Dark chocolate, wine, and coffee are always welcome

vMember Signature with off-white background Annie Keller

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Annie Keller

Copywriter Specialist

Cat person, fascinated by the unknown

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Annie is part of Ventura Travel's marketing team, working remotely mostly from Germany. She's making sure the German-speaking people out there know just how awesome and exciting travel can be, hoping they will all put a trip with one of Ventura's brands on the top of their next birthday wishlist! Annie herself considers herself lucky to have lived in Australia, Turkey, Malta and Ireland. But no matter where she is, Annie loves to hike, read books or watch movies, do pottery, study Turkish and dance Lindy Hop.

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Cintia Frias

Flight Specialist

Lover of culture and nature.

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Flight Operations Specialist. Responsible for providing Flights for Ventura Brands. Cintia joined the Ventura family in November 2016 as a Flight specialist for our brand Viventura. Her main roles are: making flight reservations and issuing tickets for the company's tours. She is committed in providing enjoyable and stress free flights for our travelers by looking for suitable connections for them.

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Deyby Vasquez

IT Developer

Tech and Coffee lover

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Deyby technology, coffee and salsa dance lover. He has been involved in technological projects since his graduation. He combines programming development with entrepreneurship. Likewise, he loves to spend the time with his family, walking, drinking coffee, dancing salsa and bachata, flying drones and sometimes cooking.

Flights Manager

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Ericka Amurrio

Flight Operations Manager

Passionate for travel and learning about new cultures!

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Ericka works from our La Paz office as a Flight Operations Manager and is in charge of providing flights for all Ventura brands by negotiating with airlines in order to provide our customers with an exceptional flight experience to start an amazing trip.

Gabriela Palma

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Gabriela Palma

Accountant

Responsible for Accounting in Cusco

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Gabriela works in our Cusco office. She is responsible for all the accounting management in Peru, presenting on time all the monthly and annual reports of the economic status in Peru, in the same way she helps all the offices of South America in accounting matters.

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Genesis Guerrero

IT Developer

Total geek

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Genesis spent six years developing software for enterprises even before finishing his studies in System Engineering at the University of Magdalena (Santa Marta, Colombia). He's an open source enthusiast, python evangelist, and javascript lover. He also has experience as lead developer, freelancer, and startup co-founder. Genesis loves to drink craft beer with friends, to attend rock concerts and to discover new places to walk and eat.

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Gustavo Cataño

IT Director

Using technology to make life easier

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I love tech things, and use this passion every day in my work with our IT team to deliver great value for Ventura Travel. I like to travel and enjoy riding my bike along unknown roads. However, above all things, I really enjoy spending my free time with my family and my daughter.

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Hannes Schleicher

Marketing Director

Digital nomad. Nature lover. World saver. Always on the lookout for the next adventure

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Hannes, is a passionate designer. His love of data and design is reflected in his work. But above all, he is a team player who puts his heart and soul into the growth of his team and Ventura. His goal in life? To make every trip an unforgettable experience and leave the world a little bit better in the process.

Maria Isabel Sanchez

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Isabel Sanchez

Flights Operations Team Lead

To have a happy life, travel and dance

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Isabel works from our La Paz office as a flight specialist in order to book, issue and make individual offers assuring that our pax get the best possible flying tickets in cost and quality.

Kathleen Ishibashi

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Kathleen Ishibashi

Central Operations Specialist

Oregonian by birth, but home is in Japan

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Kathleen originally hails from Oregon, USA but has been living in Japan for over 17 years, where she has found her second home. She previously worked as an English language instructor and currently holds a master's degree in applied linguistics. She will be working with Japaventura in ground operations and is thrilled to share everything she loves about Japan with the world.

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Louis Poissant

Performance Marketing Specialist

Always open to novelty

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Specialist of performance marketing, he is a big fan of sports and gastronomy. After an MBA in Paris and first work experience in Berlin, he decided to move to Asia for several months and took Japanese classes to increase his immersion. In charge of performance marketing in the marketing department of Ventura Travel, he is able to combine two things he enjoys: numbers and writing.

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Marcia Sanchez

Human Relations Director

Passion for travelling and discovering new cultures

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Born and raised in La Paz, Bolivia she is mad in love with the cultural diversity of her country. She loves working with people and found her passion working in Human Resources. In her spare time, she loves to read historical novels, travel and feels the happiest when she can get to know a new country, a new culture and new people.

Patricio

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Patricio Grez

Finance Director

Enthusiastic, curious by nature, opening new paths

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Patricio joins our Ventura Team as Head of Finance, bringing a vast experience with him. Not only in pure finance topics, but also in its relation across different areas of an organization. Passionate traveler, but the slow travel. Spending time and living in different countries and cultures has always given him good experiences. He is open to new challenges and willing to share with others.

Director Corporate Development and M&A

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Ralf Spielberger

Finance Director

Winston Churchill "Never waste a good crisis!"

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My finance team and I manage all the financial aspects of ventura Travel. Our mission is to deliver accurate, prompt and useful financial information to the different stakeholders.

SANDY DURAN

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Sandy Duran

Flight Specialist

A travel enthusiast

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Flight Operation Specialist Responsible for provinding Flights for Ventura Brands This is Sandy, she was born in La Paz. She has a degree in tourism, since she finished her studies she started working in the tourism area, especially in Airline reservation systems. Now being part of Flights team in Ventura Travel, she feels pleased to contribute to many people travel and have meaningful and unforgettable experiences.

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Sebastian Morales

IT Developer

Food and music lover

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Sebastian is passionate about creativity, design, and writing. A software engineer who works in the IT department as a full-stack developer from a medium-sized city of Colombia called Bucaramanga. He studied music at university with a major in classic piano, plays the bass guitar as a hobby, and sometimes produces his own compositions / songs. He is eager to learn new stuff out of curiosity almost always, a team-player who does not believe in organization heroes, easy-going person, and has a great sense of product quality and user experience.

Flight Specialist

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Stefan Kuehn

Flight Specialist

Native Berliner with latino heart

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Stefan fell in love with Latinamerica on his first trip when he was backpacking in Venezuela. Since then, he visited most of the countries of the subcontinent. He plays guitar in a band. You can meet him rocking the stage in small pubs in Berlin. Others interests are foreign cultures, food, and music. Stefan works from our office in Berlin as a Flight Operations Specialist. He is responsible for providing flights for Ventura brands: Reservations, quotations and ticketing for all brands.