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Maybe handy to note where it is located: Waterhole road, 9 kilo's west of Skukuza, goes past the N'waswitshaka waterhole and across the N'waswitshaka river.

(I want all roads to be renumbered, 100's in the south, 200's in the middle, and 300's in the north. Saves a lot of searching!)

I love the S65, always see ellies on it and have had leopard all to myself.
I'm sure someone else had cheetah and wilddog on it earlier in the year but can't find it on the search
Lovely road to drive from Pretoriuskop on the way to Lake Panic.

edit: Just found this in another thread, Francois was one of them, look for his trip report
'On 2006/02/03 at ± 15:40 while we were watching 7 cheetahs on the S65'

I've found the road rewarding almost everytime I've travelled it.

We drove this road 3 times in one week in Feb after reports of WD and Cheetah a week or so before but unfortunately did not hit pay dirt but did have some interesting sightings none the less.

I have travelled the S65 four times since 1993. The last time was on 8 November 1999. My personal experience regarding extraordinary game sightings on this road has never been one of any significance. I have done a total of 53.6 km on this road and has seen the following:

1 Blue Wildebeest
6 Zebra
1 Squirrel
1 Giraffe
1 Klipspringer
5 Kudus
497 Impala
4 Steenbok

Therefore my personal rating of the S65 is "a very poor road for game sightings". Obviously some people will have great luck from time to time on this road, but while in this vicinity I will spend my time on roads known to be more fruitful.

I agree that the road shows a high population of impala, and I'm not making as if impala is not worth seeing. The density of impala on the S65 is nearly double my average for impala for the whole park (9.3/km versus an average of 5.6/km). But I was really referring to "extraordinary game sightings", meaning those very special type of animals.

Just shows you how special impala are to me too by going through all the trouble to count them. We do not drive pass any impalas without counting them. Therefore we stop at every herd of impala, and while counting them, sometimes see some of the most interesting inter-actions in the herd. By stopping to count impala we have seen interesting other sightings too which we would just have passed. For instance, stopping to count the number of impala rams in a small herd next to the Ngotso, my wife noticed some strange movement. It was a leopard disappearing in a reed bush from where it later caught a warthog. And we were the only people seeing it as other cars would stop for a second and then drive on because there was nothing special in watching impalas.

Small herds standing in the open we will count as accurately as possible. Bigger herds will be guessed as accurate as possible. The latter also applies for big herds of buffalo.

Freda, are impala also so special to you that you stop at every herd you see? Yes, they are special to me too, but I believe you know what I mean when I refer to "special game", like predators or rare species like sable, roan, eland, rhino etc.

I actually don't want to start a debate on which is special and which not.

Stoffel, I love that.
I always think that Impalas and doves are "God's special creatures"
so beautiful and we ignore them purely because of their success.

Travelled down it twice in March 2006.

Ist time nothing special.

2nd time Leopard at N river crossing + Lion at N waterhole.

So well worth a look, try to travel north on it as better view along N river.

One of the best gravel roads in Kruger. Hotspot for leopard and wild dog.

Also one of my favourite roads when staying in Skukuza. Have always seen lots of game as well as leopard and lion and wild dog on this road.
Its a great road for a dawn patrole drive before having a nice bush breakfast back in camp. Its just the correct distance to get your appitite ready.

The S65 proved to be excellent for us on our recent trip. The first drive down from Skukuza produced a family of three rhinos, a breeding herd of ellies at the watering hole, the Sanpar kudu in all his splendour, lioness with two cubs, a pair of klipspringers apart from the usual impis, zebra, giraffe, wildebeest and warthogs.
The second time around, we saw a pride of nine lions at the watering hole. Apart from this, zebra, giraffe and wildebeest. The seven cheetahs somehow eluded us. Well, maybe the next time we will see them there.

Sounds like the S65 was pretty good to you all the same.
Great sightings.

This road has produced some good sightings for us too.

Big male Leopard just after the causeway over Nwaswitshaka river heading towards Skukuza



Ellie at the waterhole (photo a bit blurry)