Stone ruin bottom of Didima gorge

 

We stumbled across this interesting stone construction at the bottom of the Didima Gorge near the river confluence with Mhlwazini. It's marked in the old Slingsy maps as "Ruin" but not on the new ones. Coordinates are:  28°58'55.85"S  29°17'57.35"E, link to Google maps: goo.gl/maps/2qSqJrZmdgVQxu218

It kinda looks like a rondavel. Just wondering if anyone knows what it was. Thanks!

 

It's been an abandoned ruin since the 80s. I believe it was previously a forest guard outpost.

Not directly related but within the same area...

Does anyone know the name of the pass that descends from C42 down to the ruins listed in this post? The route appears on the Slingsby Maps but does appear on Garmin or Gaia. We descended this route over the Jun 16th long weekend. Although overgrown, it is navigable and helped us descend quickly to camp at the river confluence below.

Furthermore, what is the history to such paths? They appear very well made (many years ago) with cuttings into the side of the mountain and even rock steps and supports. I can only assume they were created to support horses or pack animals.

[ I remember overnighting in that hut when it still had a roof on. I think it was used as a ranger’s outpost. ]

About the paths:
That valley was the centre of a lot of archaeological work in the 1960s and 1970s (see screenshot of Pager’s book on rock art of Ndedema). And the catchments in the upper reaches of the valley were heavily instrumented for ecology and land management research. 

This is one PhD to come from that work:
Granger, J.E. 1976. The vegetation changes: some related factors and changes in the water balance following 20 years of fire exclusion in catchment IX: Cathedral Peak Forestry Research Station. PhD thesis, University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg.