Shakira's ups and downs with animals in South Africa

Feb 15, 2012, 13:47 GMT

Johannesburg - Colombian pop-star Shakira is holidaying in South Africa and her trip so far has been quite full of troublesome animals.

On Sunday, the singer was attacked by a sea lion when she tried to take a photo of the animal with her mobile phone.

'I thought to myself how cute they were so I decided to get a bit closer than all of the other tourists and went down to a rock trying to pet them doing a baby talk while taking pictures,' Shakira wrote on her Facebook page, where she also posted photos of the animals.

'Suddenly, one of them jumped out of the water so fast and impetuously that it got about one foot away from me, looked me in the eye, roared in fury and tried to bite me. Everyone there screamed, including me,' said the Grammy-winner, who turned 35 this month.

'I believe what happened is that it confused the shiny reflection of the blackberry I was taking these pics with, with some sort of fish,' wrote the artist behind such hits as 'Hips don't lie' and 'Whenever, Wherever.'

The next day she posted a photo of herself with penguins in the background, saying they were 'definitely friendlier' than the sea lions.

In an apparent romantic caveat for Valentine's Day she wrote: 'Once the penguins are a couple they are a match for life.'

While touring the southern tip of the country, where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet, she also got a taste of some of the more rambunctious animals that call South Africa home.

'A baboon on our car! The animal kingdom is revolutionized today!,' she tweeted.

But her most recent message was a bit sad, as she watched rescuers try to help a beached dolphin.

'View from my hotel room. There's a wounded dolphin stuck on the beach. I hope they can get him back in the ocean soon,' she posted on Twitter Tuesday.