Can a smartphone app enhance your adventure travel experience

Whether travelling around South America, hiking in the Himalayas or exploring Africa on an overland adventure, making sure you pack the right equipment for your trip is essential before setting off.

But for many in these modern times, items such as smartphones or tablet computers are now just as an important part of the travel checklist as the sun cream or mosquito repellent.

The Huffington Post reported this week that there are now plenty of smartphone and tablet apps that have been specifically designed for the adventurous traveller.

These include the Trek Nepal app, created by 35-year-old Joseph Shrimpton from London, which aims to assist those attempting to traverse the mountainous country in the Himalayas.

Joseph fell in love with trekking in Nepal after first visiting the country in 1993 on a school trip and returning a year later during his gap year and decided to create the app after finding nothing else like it available.

"I don't have a background in IT or apps, I just always had an interest in tech. I am an avid Apple fan so taught myself how to make apps last year," he told the website.

There are also a host of other apps on the market which could be ideal for adventure travellers.

Among its top ten, the Huffington Post listed translation app Tran-go+, The Night Sky - an app which can help you identify constellations when sleeping under the stars - and TinyVox pro, which allows users to record voice messages and post them directly to social networking sites such as Twitter - perfect for sharing you experiences with friends and family.

But according to recent research, many of us still prefer the old-fashioned methods for exploring foreign lands.

A survey by the TNT Travel Show found that some 85 per cent of those who own a Blackberry smartphone and 68 per cent of Apple iPhone users would choose to totally leave their handsets at home when heading off on a backpacking trip.