The village of Tole is empty. The houses and small stores are all boarded up.
One lone man is walking through the village along a dirt road. Isaac Yapatao is going to cut firewood for his mum.
Like the rest of the residents of Tole, he and his mother fled after the massacre.
"I am sleeping in a different place, Mum is sleeping in a different place. It's so difficult," he says.
At the end of January, 11 people were killed here, according to local police and, more than three months on, the rest of the villagers are still too scared to return.
Graves of the victims are scattered around Tole, marked with plants or homemade crucifixes.
"Up there, they killed a young man. Down there, they killed two men. On the other side, they killed two women and one of them was pregnant, so it makes it three," Mr Yapatao says, gesturing to different parts of the village.
"They shot and killed a pastor, Pastor Robert. Another was a child, about 14 years old. They shot him too."
The residents of Tole, who left the village in the aftermath, are among thousands who have been pushed from their homes. It's estimated 89,000 people were displaced by violence during PNG's national election last year.
Some of the worst of the fighting happened here in Enga Province and many of the disputes are yet to be resolved, and many people are yet to return home.
Bows and arrows replaced with semiautomatics
Chief Inspector George Kakas drives through Wabag, the capital of Enga Province.
The town is clean and peaceful, nestled into a hillside in PNG's highlands. Down one street people line the road, selling food and clothes at a makeshift market.
However, about an hour's drive from the outskirts of the town, things are different.
"It's a battleground over there," Chief Inspector Kakas says, pointing out the windscreen towards a hillside ahead.
"That's where all the fighting's going on," the officer sitting alongside him adds.
Police refer to the Kompiam Ambum Valley as a "no-go zone".
Dozens of defence personnel are in the province to keep the peace, but things remain tense.
Chief Inspector Kakas says at least 80 people were killed in the area last year, but they are just the victims who were counted. Police said more bodies were likely hidden in the bushes.
Tribal fighting is not new to Enga Province, nor other parts of PNG's highlands. It was traditionally used to resolve disputes over land or resources.
However, modern life — and modern weapons — are changing things.
Even some traditional rules of war — designed to protect women and children, or allow for ceasefires — have been abandoned.
"The first time that I came, people were fighting with bow and arrows and a couple of homemade shotguns, one or two shotguns," Chief Inspector Kakas says.
"[Now there are] high incidents of firearms, weaponry used in the current troubles.
"In my time as a police officer in Enga Province, I've seen the trend change drastically."
The introduction of politics and money has shifted power dynamics.
Significant violence in this region last year was political, with tribes aligned down local candidate and party lines during the national election.
"The people here were not happy with the result, the way the election was conducted, why the boxes were moved over to Jiwaka for counting, and also claims and allegations of hijacking and fraud and bribery and inducement. And all these problems lead up to the fighting," Chief Inspector Kakas says.
A truce has been called, but things remain tense as some of the losing candidates are challenging the results in court.
The police chief stops at the site of a group of burnt-out buildings and details some of the unrest, which he describes as guerilla warfare.
"They crisscrossed that mountain, they came and they attacked this place," he says.
"There was a big house there, sort of a mansion, belonging to a current sitting member.
"They razed it to the ground."
Police outnumbered and outgunned
Back at Tole, on the other side of the valley, more police have been stationed.
"We camp between the two tribes to protect them from any contact with each other, in case of any more innocent killings," one of the officers, Paul Pani, explains.
The massacre here was because of a dispute over stolen guns — taken by a different tribe in a previous fight.
The people in Tole were innocent. The group that attacked them was involved in the fighting during the election.
"A gun is money. That is the big thinking," Isaac Yapatao says.
"If I get a gun and live in the village, I will be OK. But there is no money.
"The ones with money, they go to their blocks and live on money. For us, we survive from the land, we have not made any trouble."
Proving who is paying for the guns, arming tribesmen and bringing in mercenaries remains difficult.
"When we know a tribe is involved, and we see elements of the people from that tribe. We already know that a particular leader is involved," the police chief says.
While more than 100 people have been arrested for minor offences since the violence, he says only four or five have been arrested for major offences, such as gun smuggling.
It appears guns and ammunition are smuggled across the Indonesian border. The chief inspector says some are also stolen or go missing from the police and army.
Police are also regularly outgunned and outnumbered.
"The population has exploded," Chief Inspector Kakas says.
"We have about 300,000 in this province and we have 200 policemen."
He says it was too risky to send personnel into several areas when the fighting broke out.
"During the election, they were blocking the roads. There were vantage points where the tribesmen can attack the police and security forces.
"I'm very sorry for the people who suffered because we couldn't reach them. But that's the sad reality of what I'm facing as a commander."
As Australia and PNG finalise a new security treaty, the police chief is keen to get more help from the country's nearest neighbour.
He says authorities are also working towards a gun buyback scheme.
"That's the only really hard part, because they're causing all the havoc with the guns they have, and no gun has been surrendered back in all the peace negotiations."
A call for peace
After the Tole massacre, local leader and prominent businessman Paul Kurai called for peace and for there to be no payback killings.
He has also been involved in brokering peace in other parts of the province.
"All of these leaders, politicians, they're already implicated, and I'm one man who is neutral to everybody," he explains.
He is part of a mediation team that travels with heavily armed police and army personnel to meet with tribes involved in the worst of the election violence in the Kompiam Ambun Valley. There has been a truce, but the peace process is still in its infancy.
Vision of a school burning down here went viral during the election.
It's estimated that $30 million of infrastructure was lost and 10,000 people have been forced out of this part of the valley.
"This used to be a bustling environment, markets, schools, hospitals, police stations, churches. It was a major centre here, but now it's all gone," the police chief says.
The team waits by the side of the road in the rain for members of one tribe, who come and speak to them. They agree to meet again and talk further.
Chief Inspector Kakas is happy with the meeting, but knows it is the start of a long process, where they will have to balance both the cultural and legal repercussions.
"I think we have fully talked about what our intentions are — to stop this fight, we truly want to stop this fight — and I think there's no hidden agendas behind us," one local Paul Ero says.
He is hopeful the other groups will also want peace.
"This is a political-related warfare, which will be complicated to stop because, customarily, only two people were involved in fights, two tribes, neighbouring tribes."
With a fast-growing population, creating opportunities for the young people of PNG is essential.
Back in Wabag, a support group called the Enga Sore Mamas meets. It is a gathering of women widowed by tribal fighting.
They hope for a better future for their children but worry about how to achieve it.
Roselyn Jaka's husband was a local magistrate and peace officer.
"I have four children. My husband had gone to try [to] stop a fight when our daughter was still breast-feeding and he was killed. We didn't see him again. My children never saw again," she says.
"Who will help me pay school fees or help me raise the children? I am very worried about this."
This reporting was supported by the Sean Dorney Grant for Pacific Journalism through the Walkley Public Fund.
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