Despite all the things in the world that are getting weirder right now, map borders seem to be moving in the opposite direction. First, India and Bangladesh ironed out the "chitmahals", hundreds of tiny enclaves that used to make their border a confusing mess. And now Belgium and the Netherlands are just months away from simplifying away an accidental oddity on their own border.

Welcome to the fragrant land of the Limburgers.

South Limburg is the southernmost landstreek, or region, of the Netherlands, jutting south into Belgium. It includes the Vaalserberg, the country's highest point and the place where Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands all meet. Just south of the city of Maastricht, where the European Union was formed in 1992, are three narrow and uninhabited peninsulas in the Meuse River that divides Belgium from the Netherlands: Presqu'île de L'Ilal, Presqu'île Petit-Gravier, and Presqu'île d'Eijsden.

These peninsulas haven't been peninsulas for long.

The border between Belgium and the Netherlands, set by treaty in 1843, followed the gentle curve of the Meuse River. But starting in the 1960s, the Meuse was dredged into a straight line there to build a series of locks that would connect two canals. The works unintentionally abandoned tiny strips of Belgium and the Netherlands on the wrong side of the river, as there are no bridges connecting these three peninsulas to their mother countries.

A lawless no man's land, right on a quaint Dutch canal.

The three Meuse peninsulas are nominally wildlife preserves, but their wacky jurisdictional status made them appealing spots for drug trafficking and illicit sex. A few years back, a headless body was found on one of the exclaves, and Belgian law enforcement didn't have permission to transit Dutch territory. They had to ferry all their equipment in via boat and wade ashore. "You needed to be in shape for this!" remembered the mayor of Vise, Belgium.

Take a bite out of crime (and Belgium).

The close ties between Belgium and the Netherlands meant that a friendly, common-sense solution might actually work: ceding land and redrawing the map. Last November, Belgium's King Philippe visited Amsterdam and formally signed a treaty to straighten out the border, giving away about 32 net acres of uninhabited wetlands in the deal. On January 1 of next year, the island-peninsulas will be gone for good. But all is not lost, map nerds! The thirty inexplicable Belgian and Dutch enclaves around Baarle-Hertog are still as confusing as ever.

Explore the world's oddities every week with Ken Jennings, and check out his book Maphead for more geography trivia.