I have the lift made. It rained and I put a villager on one end and the other filled up with water but he didn't get to the level with the big tree!

Am I doing something wrong?

it takes a bit for him to reach the top lol i thought I missed a step at first too! Even when he looks like he's all the way up...there's still another notch to go lol just hang out and wait a min longer

Ok. I just hope it will rain soon...

I switched to "slow" during rain, so it lastst longer, and in both my tribes they could reach the fruit.

It just rained and I kept my villager on the lift until the rain stopped but it didn't work.

When you put your villager on the lift, does his action say 'Standing on lift'? You have to put your villager on the lift either before or as soon as the rain starts. If you wait too long and the lift begins to go up even a little, you will have to wait for the next cycle.