The dynamics of suspensions of anisometric colloids are of both fundamental and technological interest because of their effect on liquid crystal phase transitions, rod-jamming and the transport of rigid, anisotropic bacteria, viruses and polymers. Here, we develop and test an experimental method to investigate the dynamics of rod particles by measuring their rotation and translation in three dimensions. The method relies on solvent viscosification to retard dynamics to scales that are compatible with 3D confocal laser scanning microscopy. We demonstrate the performance of the method by tracking the Brownian motion of fluorescent poly (methyl methacrylate) rods (aspect ratio, L/D = 3.1 and 7) grafted with poly (dimethylsiloxane). The rods are dispersed at dilute concentration in a solvent mixture of viscosity 2000 cp. Rod translational and rotational diffusivities are extracted from the measured translational mean square displacement and time correlation functions of the rod director, respectively. The orientational dynamics of the rods are characterized relative to both their azimuthal and polar angles. Experimental values obtained agree well with theory. As an example of the future utility of this method, we investigate the rotational dynamics of depletion induced colloidal rod-gels.