There are all sorts of travel apps these days, but the following list is particularly well-suited to your West Africa adventures. If you have any of your own suggestions, drop them in the comments below the post.

iOverlander – iOverlander is an app that was designed by overlanders, for overlanders. Its strength is that the content submitted to the site all comes from the users. This ensures that the information provided is relevant as it is constantly being updated by people on the ground.

It is a fantastic source for campsites, wild camps, good (and bad) hotels, road conditions, tourist attractions and perhaps most importantly, current information on visas.

The only weakness we have seen is that sometimes the information provided is incorrect, but the moderators have added a section for other users to submit corrections.

For popular places there is quite often multiple comments from people who have been there so you can get a cross section of experiences to better enable you to plan your next course of action.

Maps.me – This is our favorite mapping app as prior to traveling you can download the offline maps and then you are not stuck when you do not have access to the internet. When coupled with google maps, you surely can not get lost in West Africa (touch wood). When all else fails, go old school and ask a local.

XE Currency Convertor – Our go to currency converter. You can add 10 currencies to the home page and they are updated constantly with the daily rates. There is nothing better than arriving at the border and being a step ahead of the money changers.

Whatsapp – Is there anyone on the planet with a smart phone who doesn’t have Whatsapp? But seriously, when the network is poor and nothing else works, you can be guaranteed that if any app is going to work, its Whatsapp. Perfect for staying in touch with friends and the location plotting and live tracking are very useful when you are traveling with multiple vehicles.

booking.com – gone are the days of wandering aimlessly into a city and hoping for the best for a hotel. We are sure the hardcore overlanders of yesteryear are cursing under their breath at someone pre-booking a hotel online, not to mention then having the app lead them to the front door of the hotel.

But, times have changed, this app has hotels registered all over West Africa so if you want to take the easy option, then definitely add this app to your phone. Trip Advisor and Google Maps are also great for checking reviews of places before you book.

Polarsteps – Once you start using this app, it will track your route as you travel though West Africa and beyond. At the completion of the trip you will have a record of your daily journey and it also plots your trip on a map with various statistics you can then share with your friends.

When you take a photo it plots the GPS point and you can also write some information about the picture. The full-res photos are uploaded onto the polarsteps server when you have wifi available. Your friends and family (and even strangers if you make your profile public) can follow your journey if they also have the app.

Polarsteps also seamlessly integrates with Instagram. Once your trip is complete you can make an order through the app and turn your journey into a printed coffee table book using the ready made template available on the app.