OMG thats awful! Thanks for warning everyone.

Cat xxx

It is an undeniable fact that some temple guardians and indeed armed tourist guards (white uniforms) at historical sites can and do pressure tourists for money. This is not that common and it is important not to let this type of experience get out of hand or blown out of proportion. The area in question can be very quiet at times and for anyone not familiar with the location, it is a little like wandering through a run down back streets in an unsavoury part of town, whilst searching for the various tombs. They are usually quite small and a lot have difficult access. If you are travelling on your own and at a quite time of day, it is very easy for you to be intimidated by someone asking (demanding) money. The obvious advice is to avoid that situation arising in the first place by ensuring that other people are around should you be wandering around these areas on your own. The other advice I would give is to be very loud in your reaction, do not use violence but push past anyone attempting to stop you from leaving and keep moving. You will find that as a rule other Egyptian people will come to see what the commotion is all about. Leave the area, join other people and if possible report the incident to the nearest responsible person you see, that may be the guide with another tour group, at the ticket office or best of all with the police in blue uniforms should you see them. Finally as with all muggings or demands for money it is better to just hand something over than to provoke an assault. Now having agreed that people will and do ask for money, it should not be seen as a common thing. Most Egyptian Temple guardians will try to tap you for money in some way or another especially if you are isolated from the crowd. They may be persistent but are very rarely aggressive and indeed sometimes the very fact that you are in a strange land with a stranger pressing you for money can appear more intimidating than it really is.
Tez

Take your point Tez, but yes this was threatening allright! I understand that it is easy to magnify these things when it is a different culture. I've travelled widely and also independently, and you do get a 6th sense for it.

Yes, we gave him money. There were no tourist police there. I have since made a report.
Bas

Bas22
I am glad that you have reported it, as it is the only way to help avoid other people being subjected to a similar demand. I do know what it feels like; I had a guard cock his Kalashnikov rifle behind my back at Denderah temple after refusing him money. It was a deliberate attempt to un-nerve me but a difficult thing to prove to the police. Again like you I was somewhat isolated from the main group of people. I am also well travelled and have been in some nasty parts of the world both as a tourist and to live and work, but I have to say that I have never felt threatened in Egypt but I do understand how you felt. Regrettably it is low paid and poorly educated people who are often in this type of job. I have lost count of the gun toting, moronic, government officials and employees that it has been my miss-fortune to meet during my time spent working in Africa in general. In Egypt it is not nearly as bad, but never the less it should not happen and it is up to the Egyptian authorities to prevent these isolated incidents from becoming a common occurrence.

Tez