Beneath Eastern Africa, a slow-motion tectonic shift is underway. The East African Rift is gradually pulling the region away from the rest of the continent—at just a few millimeters per year.

This rift, stretching from Ethiopia to Mozambique, could one day form a new ocean and turn parts of East Africa into an island. In fact, a 35-mile crack opened in Ethiopia in 2005, showing the process is already in motion.

It’ll take millions of years, but Earth is quietly redrawing the map beneath our feet.