Love them or hate them, the Vuvuzela will be a major must-have during the 2010 Soccer World Cup, now just over 100 days away.

During the recent Confederations Cup ‘test event’ some spectators and in particular the TV broadcasters complained over what they called the ‘mindless, monotonous cacophony’ emitted by these plastic horns.

However, this has just spurned a whole new industry around the horn and we were very amused to see the following t-shirt print in the SA dailies this past week proudly exclaiming:  Africa is a noisy place!

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An innovative Cape Town-based outfit called K.E.L.P. came up with a very environmentally friendly way of satisfying what will ultimately be a best-selling soccer-tourist keepsake from the first World Cup in Africa.  KELP is an acronym for Kelp Environmental Learning Projectwhich aims at promoting environmental awareness and to educate the public about marine conservation and environmental matters.  The business uses dried kelp horns to create vuvuzelas which are painted and branded.

Have a look a how they do it:

WikiPedia has the following to say about the origin of the Vuvuzela:

A vuvuzela, or a stadium horn, is a blowing horn, approximately one metre in length, commonly blown by fans at football matches in South Africa. It is also used in other countries such as Mexico, Brazil, or Israel. The origin of the name is disputed. It may originate from the Zulu for “making noise,” from the “vuvu” sound it makes, or from township slang related to the word for “shower.”

Originally made out of tin, the vuvuzela became popular in South Africa in the 1990s.

La dooooooooooo ma!